April 26th - Music Rehersals

Today we worked on our songs and played them to the group again. Seb and Frans song was sincere with the use of Sebs personal experiance to write it. The piano had abit of disspute over it but I persoanly liked it, it brought extra depth to the piece. Imogens song was also powerful, the lone acoustic made it seem solitary, which is what I imagine the feeling of being anerexic would be like, a "skeleton" performance. The microphone helped us hear the actual lyrics. There was abit of disagreement over the piano in our performance, with it coming in and out at points, but this was partialy Frankie trying to get to grips with using both hands. Our ending is still incomplete, and the instruements may be getting swapped around because having the singer on drums might not be a good idea.

The Worm Collector

The Worm Collector is a performance designed to tackle the teenage problem of knife crime. It tours primary and secondary schools, employing the right amount of comedy, sincerity and tradgedy to engage the audiance.
The story revolves around Mark, an avergae teenager trying to make sence of the world.  He is making a school film project on who has the best scar, determining it not just on how large it is but how they got it. However, as the story unfolds it becomes apparent that the scars you can't see may be the most harmful, and Mark is left wondering wether facing something head on is the best way to fight.

Interview with Gail McIntyre

We recently had an interview with Gail McIntyre, the Associate Director for Young Peoples Theater in West Yorkshire Playhouse, to understand more about T.I.E companies. When she arrived and everyone was ready, the interview began and she introduced herself and her job.
As previously stated, she is the Associate Director for Young People Theater in West Yorkshire Playhouse, so she has massive responsibilities within her projects, she said something along the lines of; 'if something goes wrong, it's my fault. But everyone takes the credit once it goes right'. If any of the people involved in the production have problems, it will be Gail they go to to fix it. She has been working in the playhouse for a while now, and has worked on 5 of the Christmas performances, which is probably a testament to her success.
She enthusiasticly stated how much she enjoyed her job within T.I.E, she loves bringing educational performances into schools. Their youngest range is 3-5 year olds, which is understandable as anything below would require much more to bring their attention and they may not understand the performance. Gail explained that even if a performance starts with a specific age range, they are sometimes asked to bring it to an older or younger age range, so some tweaking to compensate is required.
After the introduction was over, we began asking the questions:

What styles of theater do you use in your productions?

"It’s not always up to us. I really want to do a TIE piece on Child Carers but I have been told I would not be funded for this. A piece about knife crime is wanted so I have to do this otherwise I will not get paid. I also really want to work with different cultures; Especially the Asian/ Indian cultures of theatre."

This is understandable really. While Theater is an enjoyable proffesion, it is still a bussiness and so must go to where the money is.

How are your projects funded?

"The touring in schools work with our TIE pieces are funded by Education Leeds, but this funding stops at the end of this year (2011). The work done at the Playhouse is funded by the Arts Council but other specific productions i.e. - knife crime – are funded by The Home Office, or The Royal Armouries ect... We are also paid for commissioning monologues."

I'd have thought tthe goverment/Local Council funding of projects to have been the main source of income for most companies, so this cut will probably hit T.I.E companies hard. And I've read in the news that Arts Council funding is also getting vut back to a lesser sum, so thats probably going to cause problems as well. Hopefully, tghe commosions and privately funded projects are enough to keep most of them on their feet.

Is there a hierarchy of roles/responsibilities within the company?

“Whatever happens, I am responsible for everything! I make nearly every decision about what is happening concerning TIE. The hierarchies are led by different artists. For example the actors, playwrights, singers, poets ect... Make their own decisions about their own pieces. You have to decide who is the most skilled at individual things with their abilities. Within the theatre you have to be collaborative.”

Theres obviously alot of responsibilitie on one persons shoulders, to then say that while she makes the descions but appear to have to decide between different peoples ideas and the ideas of the leading person in the project must be hard, especialy if the mistakes will allways cascade back up to her. And I understand that it is a collaborative, but you also can't have too many chiefs in the village.

 

How long does it take to produce a piece of T.I.E of high quality?

 

“If we commission a piece in 2008, we tell the writers and they have a year to produce a script, (they may have multiple scripts to write at once!). We usually plan for two years ahead. We then rehearse 9-5 Monday- Saturday for 3-4 weeks. Then the designers and set and props crew ect... need time to work out what’s going on in the piece. You have to work out how you want it to look, how you want people to see it and what they will see.  As well as the rehearsal schedule to think about we have to book the tour and work on the workshop to follow the performance.”

The rehersal time seems about right, it's good enough to have an average sized peice fully memorized and the visuals sorted. Wish we had this sort of time.

 

Are some age groups more difficult than others?

 

“No they are all just different. I have to find the things that will encourage and inspire people and decide which age range it will have the biggest impact on. To do my job you really have to be in touch with any age group to connect to them properly.”

 

Understandable, it's no use using bright coulors and sing alongs to teenagers.

 

Do you use songs and music in your performances?

 

“Yes in different ways. The music in the show First Cut portrays the life and emotional journeys of the character. In the Worm Collector we use sound effects to create an atmosphere and explain where you are without actually being there. This sets the scene whilst being versatile.

Music and sounds makes the journey unfold and tells the story. We try stuff in rehearsals to see what works and what doesn’t.  Music for younger ages like Visiting Grandpa, for 3-5 year olds is more appropriate as it engages there minds in a more fun way.”  

 

Music is something thats better used on young audiances in my mind, and is harder to use with teenagers because of the diversity and preducie in the modern music scene.

 

How do you connect with different audiances?

 

“Forum theatre is a good way to get the audience involved, depending on the audience. In The Snow Queen, the actors who play the robbers rob the audience (without harassing them). This is a fun way to connect the audience with the performance and make them feel part of the story.”

 

Audiances are extremely unpridictable, so I'd prefer not to directly engage with them. It's easy to see a story unfold without it asking you to change it or slapping you in the face.

 

How do you get different audiance types into the theatre?

 

"There are different ways to do this. Advertising helps a lot. The Playhouse is a very lucky company and has a very clever and very big marketing team.  

Encouraging schools and engaging with creativity is the other way to get audiences.  We just have to work out what different audiences want.”

 

The only problem with this is you can never cater to everyones needs, or it'll end up a mess. But, I guess focousing on a single type of audiance wouldn't bring in a large enough turn out.

 

Have you ever acted and directed yourself at the same time?

 

“No, I really don’t think anybody should ever act and direct themselves at the same time. You can tell who does this because of their expressions in the performance. They are never fully connected to the character and it’s very hard to do so when you are acting.”

 

Understandable, but under out circumstances we don't have much choice.

 

Do you gather inspiration by seeing other peoples work?

 

“Yes you have to otherwise it is very hard to think of something original without seeing a starting point. There are no new ideas; they are what you make them.”

 

It is true. No idea is new, it'sonly how you interpret it.

 

Have you ever been in a project where you've had enough or just wanted it to end?

 

"No, Never. Things I have worked on have become slightly tedious or challenging because of the combination of colleagues I worked with but I never ever have had enough of a project."

 

It allways does ocme down to the poepl you work with in a team project. Some people are simply hard to work with.

 

Do you enjoy your job?

 

"Yes! Very much. It’s a very challenging job. It’s very challenging to find what it is that will make a great piece. What will inspire people? You know a piece is good if the actors feel part of it. "

I'm not sure I'd enjoy a challange like that myself, attempting to get inside the audiance before it's even put together.

 

It was an experiance to meet her, and I'm grateful for it. It is rather exciting that she is going to try and find the time to watch us in our rehersals and help us with it. The only problem is, she left before I was able to ask if we would beable to do the same with their rehersals at some point.

Feb 15th

Today we listened to everyones Sunrise and Lonely Man songs, but I didn't have any becuase I wasn't there the lesson before. But the songs realy set the moods that the picture was showing, even if the mood changed slightly from song to song. We were then given a tune to play and different instruments to play it on. I was on the xylophone, and we all started with the same at the begging. Then, we were told to change it in some way, and I couldn't realy adapt to the change as I'm not very musicly inclined.

Januray 14th

Today we were incorperating a peice of forum into our T.I.E performance. But first, we discussed the moral boundries of theater. When does a subjedct go too far? Are we not allowed to show certain, more sensitive subjects on stage? Obviously, at our age such things are for defeniate, but for an older audiance I believe it is possible to break the boundries down on stage. Used correctly, the shock can enhance a performance and provoke thought. Used incorrectly, you'll get low reviews and the theater will empty befor the show ends.
We then made a conscience alley for the peice, giving the dilema of a teenage boy taking dance and the thoughts for and against are the replies he expects from family and friends.
Then we got around to the actual forum  theater part of it, making a basic script for a scene where the boys dad finds out about his dancing. Here's the basics:

Dad bangs door open.

Dad: What is this I hear about dance?  What are you? A girl or a poof?!

Son: I’m not a girl dad, and I’m not gay!  I just like dance.

Dad: Well I don’t like you dancing; you’re gonna be a builder, just like your old man.

Son: It’s my life and I’ll do as I please.  You don’t choose my future, I do.

We treid a female version of this where Frankie played a daughter wanting to do football, and Abi as the disaproving mother. There wasn't enough time to finish rehersing this, so it was me and Olly who had to perform. Abi was appointed the Joker, the one who goes between the actors and audiance to pull people into the forum theater. There was abit of messing about and laughing when they took over a role, but it eventually got somewhere. Despite the benefits it can have, they are far out weighed depending on who the audiance is. This is something you could only use on a serious audiance, but the age range we will be performing too is anything but serious.

January 11th

Today we were given a sheet with different drama conventions and techniques on them, and it had to be couler coded to show which ones we defently knew (Green), maybe knew (Amber), and what we didn't know (Red). I know all the baisc things, such as sustaining a role, hot seating, voice patterns/projection and slow motion, but I didn't know anything about a soliloquy. So, as a homework task, I had to research it.
I found that a soliloquy is, in basis, a monologue, but instead of adressing the audiance with it, it's more of the characters inner thoughts and talking to themselves.
We then learnt about sound scapes, something I allready knew about, in the drama studio. A sounscape is where the actors produce sounds, normally without but can be in junction with music and digital sound, to create an atmosphere and set a scene. We first started this as one big group, doing the same action all around the cricle, following Miss Woffindens lead. We made a rainforest soundscape using tapping to signify the rain, and rubbing of hands like the wind through the leaves. We then split off into seperate groups to make our own rainforest sound scapes. Our's was more a perfect rainforest with more animals roaming about, while the others was more humours and of what can be a "modern day" rian forest, with chainswas a pouchers. But, theirs was mor organised than ours, and so it showed to be better.
We then did a conscience alley for my sake, as I didn't know what that was. A conscience alley, or "Thought Tunnel" as it is also known, is where a character with a dilema walks down a "alley" of people, at each point one steps out as a character from the story give for or against advice to the main character.

January 4th

Today we presented our work to the rest of the group. Everyone had good ideas and presnted them well, and so obviously researched them well aswell. I liked Frankie's Gender Equality idea, since that can turn out as a rather interesting peice, and Sebs "Children in Divorce" is something personal to him and so that experiance should alow him to convey the story and emotions better. After we got into groups to then perform the researched subjects, but obviously we can only do one subject. I was grouped in with Olly, Abi and Frankie, doing the Gender Equality peice.
I feel this is a good thing as it is an interesting subject, and Frankie researched well into it, allowing it to be more informational and yet imersive than mine could have been.
There dosn't need to be a passion for a subject per say, but it does appear it will help as there will be more energy in the performance and much more knowlage coming out of it.

December 14th

On December 14th we were tasked to research a social or pollitical issue. I chose to do Prison and the Justice System, because it seems to be less touched upon in T.I.E. I came across a great little article on Crimestoppers where a guest writer, Jim Dawkins (a former prison officer), wrote about the state of life within a UK Prison, check it out: http://www.crimestoppers-uk.org/media-centre/guest-writers/crimestoppers-guest-articles/inside-the-uk-prison-service-by-jim-dawkins

There realy wasn't much else I could apart from short accounts and news articles about a similar, but un-usabole subject. There was especialy little on the Justic System, but Splendid Productions "The Trial" does seem tet about on going over it's complexity enough and the way they did it using the Brechtian style was superb; going overthe top, using song, breaking the fourth wall, etc.They gave me some inspirition for if I was going to do this sort of thing myself.