T.A.T.T at Southwark

Most of the pictures that were taken for my documentation aren't really usable - but thought that I would stick them up here anyway...

They don't really show what the set was like or the changes that were made which is a real shame. Most of the feed back from people that had seen it before at college was that they preferred the set here as it was more eclectic and suited the feel of the piece. People also seemed to like the bar setting for the work. I was initially really worried that I didn't have any lighting to punctuate the piece, but it turned out not to matter - no body noticed that it was missing which can only be a good thing.

An old friend of mine from when I was in Sixth Form College came to see it which was amazing. She is an actress now and gave me some really great feedback about things that I think I have been neglecting without realising. 

My friend said that what she noticed most was that my performance skills have slipped since she saw me performing as a teenager! Really basic things like using and controlling my breathing to punctuate and create phrases in the work, I struggled with stillness and silences, my posture and gestures aren't as clear or as held as they should be. Her comments really struck a cord with me as I realised that she was right and that it was great to have someone there to look at it from a technical point of view. 

It's so easy to when you are creating, writing, and directing your own work to get so caught up with the content and the 'art' behind it, that it is so easy to overlook your practical skills. Performing techniques aren't really easy and are things that need constantly working on. I've rewritten the beginning of T.A.T.T again and will be working on my performance skills when I get to perform it again. 

I think that I still have a lot to learn about documentation and how to control it when I'm not taking the pictures.

Dissertation

I've finally found the time to put my MA Dissertation on the internet. To view it please go to http://laurabean123.wordpress.com/

As always I'm looking for input...

Some Baby Seeds

... are being planted in my bored little brain. Ideas are there that are so new, so fragile, that everytime I try to discuss them with someone they shatter in my hands and become banal and nothing worth uttering. Yet the desire to start working again keeps on niggling.

Living with Stevie obviously has an affect on me because I have started to research fairy stories again... no I take that back... maybe it is a combination of Stevie and this time of year - I have just realised that this is also what I was working on this exact time last year, with Stevie, for the group show at college. Ah how the past comes around and around and around.

Stevie and I started a project for the group show where I re-appropriated newspaper stories into allegorical tales using the language of fairy tales. It was for an audience of one at a time and also had an accompanying shadow play that Stevie designed... some of these ideas are obviously still floating in freeplay with me.

I recently went to the Press night of Cinderella at the Lyric! Wow! I was really in love with the show - possibly just my sick little brain, but I found this version, with the direction and the Grimm's writing far more enchanting and christmasy than the 'traditional' version with a fairy godmother. It was dark and magical all in one go - if it wasn't advertised as a kids show I would have been demanding that the dark nature be pushed even further... after all fairy tales were originally meant for adults. Funnily enough I met Liz, who played Cinderella, a couple of months ago at a Devoted and Disgruntled night at Shunt. That was an added bonus.

So - that is some stuff that is at the root of my shattering ideas... here are a few more:

"I had to produce a discourse that would be readable only for those who would make their own translation from the point of view of their own adventure." (The Emancipated Spectator: Ranciere, 2007)

"I wanted to write a story that would feel, to the reader, like something he or she had always know. Something familiar, even if the elements were as original as I could make them." (Neil Gaiman in this artical)

Reacently, walking home from work I heard someone shouting my name .. turned around and saw an almighty chunk of my past standing at London Bridge station. One of those people who you fall out with under awful, hurtful, hateful circumstances, eight years ago, but still think about them all the time; never expecting or wanting to see them again. One of those people that you imagine, if you ever saw them again you would probably just blank them and say, "I'm sorry do I know you!?" before sharply turning around and running away... wishing that you had just said "Sorry".

In one swift, totally unexpected movement, I was hugging her and was so happy that our paths had crossed on a day when she hadn't even entered my head. All the anger that I think we both thought would be felt just wasn't there and an agreement was made that enough water had been passed under that bridge for it to be built again... so we are going for a drink tomorrow... and I remembered a fairy story that has been lost, that we wrote together as teenagers.

As We Speak...

I am sat behind a reception desk... earning money. Unable to get a full time job I have resigned myself to sporadic temp work, to pay the rent, only to realise I never wanted a full time job in the first place - no wonder I didn't get one. But my bills are mounting, christmas is coming and my placement is ending. I am obsessed with all the wrong things. No new work on this horizon.

As we speak... the sentence "It is the power that each of us possesses in equal measure to make our own way in the world... She participates in the performance if she is able to make her own story from the story in front of her" (The Emancipated Spectator, Ranciere: 2007) goes round and round my head... I'm doing what now in the world?

Realising that choices are hard work and I'm not putting enough of it in; the new year approaches and I will be a little clieched and resign myslef to a new beginning... maybe I will start that early.

The Art of Taking Tea Continues...

I have my first out-of-college performance coming up for 'The Art of Taking Tea'. I will be performing at Southwark Playhouse as part of their Secrets programme on the 4th of November 1.15pm.

The programme is perfect for 'TATT' as the £5 entry fee includes sandwiches and cups of... yes you guessed it.. tea!! I'm really excited about it but have lots of work still to do. The performance will take place in their bar area which has a really lovely atmosphere but there is a serious lack of lighting and set available to me. 

I'm desperately trying to get them to let me in and see what I will have so that I can re-write the piece but between my lack of steady schedule at the moment and their uber workload we aren't getting that far :o) I'm sure that it will be fine and am currently turning my living room into picnic areas and will shortly be forcing Sally and Stevie to help me adapt things! mwahaha

It is really nice after having a break from the performance to start to look at it again and see how it has evolved and changed. What its influences are now and how that is feeding into the work away from college.

I have a feeling that it is going to turn into a very quiet intimate piece that talks about experience in a more subdued way... but who knows - and that is the fun part. xx

Duckie!!

It's been a while since I've updated my blog and thought that it was about time I cracked on and sorted some stuff out.

I've got so much to write about that I'm not sure where to start so thought that the best place would to be with my most recent performance... for Duckie.  Harriet was asked to do a performance there as part of the club night and asked me if I'd like to co-perform it with her - and of course I said yes!!

It was a really amazing experience. It was the first time that I've ever performed in a club and have to say I was really nervous at first, but after my first couple of participants I got the bug! Although Harriet and I had agreed to have a break after half an hour and stop the work at 1:30am we didn't break and worked past 2am!!

I think that sometimes I forget how much I get out of performing other people's work without being a collaborator. It is so nice to have the experience of the work without having the investment of it being your own creation. I feel like it allows for a step back and a true insight into how other practitioners work... which is always helpful! Plus it is a welcome break from my own work at the moment!

I met some amazing people at Duckie and had some very interesting conversations. I have to say that it is my favourite out of all Harriet's performances thus far. It was really neat and the space was controlled and utilised so well (also thanks to Andy Mitchelson). Very simple, very effective.

It's Getting Closer!! *eeee*

The show is fast approaching (far too quickly for my liking) so have uploaded a few images to show you all what I have been up to! For anyone who knows me-I know that you're going to laugh your asses off at the first photo. :o)

I have to say Health and Safety in the college has been a pain in the bum this week - but it has actually been quite good for me. I have had to stabilise my tables and make them into a stage, as well as cleaning and stabilising my benches so I can walk on them.

 I came on this course saying that I wanted to learn the practicalities of putting on your own work. I don't feel like I have been doing that as yet. So meeting Steve our technician has been fantastic! I have been drilling, hammering and sanding away. Dave our lighting guy has also been fantastic helping me puting up my lights, teaching me about colours and helping with careers advice in the process. I finally feel like I am doing what I came here to do.

Anywhoo - I'm scarily still script writing!! I changed my writing style this week which is good and bad. I have returned to my old style of writing which I am inspired by - but it has set me back a bit in the process... where there's a will there's a way... I hope.

This was my first day having costume, set and lights all good to go. I'm ACTUALLY working in a black box studio... A week to go and for the first time I am fully equipt! LOVE IT!

I am also really excited by seeing that the Tea Appreciation Society are advertising my show for me! Yeeha! 

And thanks once again to Harriet for documenting my rehearsal for me!