Hello all!
Today I am off to meet Caroline Laurie, Anthony King (CEO) and Sarah Linzey at MIND along with my daughter Grace who is a film maker to talk about making a new film about the experience of living with anorexia. The film is inspired by Caroline's personal story and journey through living with this devastating disease. In spite of huge struggles - Caroline is a vibrant, reflective person with great insight into the disease which she will share in this new film that we are raising the money to make. I'll report back following our meeting today.
To turn to another of the projects I am taking part in - Present Moment Theatre Lab 2014. I am involved in this summer production with 28 young people from East London, who travel everyday to Islington to rehearse a full production of The Tempest - directed by Present Moment's Artistic Director Joss Bennathan - we are approaching the end of the second week and rehearsals are going very well. Its a joy to be involved with a full team of professional theatre makers and this group of dedicated and talented young actors. There's a real buzz in the studios - and I thought it would be fun to share Mike Beigel's (Assistant Director) blog which captures moments from the rehearsal room. So here it is. Enjoy! If you want to visit or follow the journey with Mike go directly to his blog at pmtheatrelab2014.blogspot.com
Our first masterclass was led by Mary Howland. It focused on voice technique and how this can be used to make sense of Shakespeare's text. We now use these vocal exercises as the basis for our daily warm-up. Much like a sports warm-up these focus on stretching muscles but with an aim to increase volume, clarity and vocal dexterity. A particular favourite of mine is Raisin Face/Lion Face, as can be seen below - I'll let you decide which one you think we're doing!
Our second session with Mary looked at deciphering the clues provided in the text. We began by getting our pencils and getting really stuck into our scripts. Putting double slashes when a phrase is finished and single slashes when a phrase is unfinished phrase - deciphering this using the punctuation provided in the text. We went on to consider the nucleus of phrases and bringing out the euphonious words where appropriate. A number of the actors seem to have a career in advertising beckoning!
Our next masterclass focused on movement - finding ways of moving through space and how this impacts on character. The session was run by Simon Rivers who some of you may recognise from the BBC series Doctors and who played Mephistopheles in Present Moment's production of Doctor Faustus. Beginning with an exercise to develop focus - we saw how movement can combine with sound to create rhythms within an assemble. This also introduced the importance of working as an ensemble, and providing an awareness of the other actors - something he developed through a number of exercises.
Next the actors improvised what it meant to move as: fire, water, earth and air. Known as Elemental work these experiential exercises aimed at stretching the actors imaginations and bodies. Also proving very fruitful when discussing these styles of movement in relation to character.
There were a number of other exercises including mirroring and status games but too many to mention here. This was a workshop focused on introducing ideas and - through experiential exercises - developing a palette of movements in the actors' muscle memories.
The final masterclass of the week was a puppetry workshop by Raven Kaliana of the Little Angel Theatre. We looked at the possible uses of puppetry within the wider context of theatre. What they can do easily and what can be more of a challenge - before thinking in the terms of The Tempest where puppetry may be a good solution.
We looked at shadow puppets and how to create them. Introducing the idea of three dimensional shadow puppets and moving light-sources. How this can easily create textures, landscapes, journeys and scale using little more than a handheld torch and some crumpled fabric!
We then moved onto more traditional puppets and the fundamentals of creating them. Starting with a pole, a mask and a piece of fabric each of the groups of actors created vibrant characters - each with individual personalities and ways of moving.
All three masterclasses have provided me with revelations and I know from the actor's reflections that they have too. Whether it's discussing which characters are which element, finding ways to create personalities from lifeless materials or speaking the text with a greater understanding of the character's thought processes. I have seen these actors develop in front of my eyes this week and this is all work we will build on and take with us into production. You may not see any of these exercises in the final performance but the work done and insight gained will be more than evident.
Today I am off to meet Caroline Laurie, Anthony King (CEO) and Sarah Linzey at MIND along with my daughter Grace who is a film maker to talk about making a new film about the experience of living with anorexia. The film is inspired by Caroline's personal story and journey through living with this devastating disease. In spite of huge struggles - Caroline is a vibrant, reflective person with great insight into the disease which she will share in this new film that we are raising the money to make. I'll report back following our meeting today.
To turn to another of the projects I am taking part in - Present Moment Theatre Lab 2014. I am involved in this summer production with 28 young people from East London, who travel everyday to Islington to rehearse a full production of The Tempest - directed by Present Moment's Artistic Director Joss Bennathan - we are approaching the end of the second week and rehearsals are going very well. Its a joy to be involved with a full team of professional theatre makers and this group of dedicated and talented young actors. There's a real buzz in the studios - and I thought it would be fun to share Mike Beigel's (Assistant Director) blog which captures moments from the rehearsal room. So here it is. Enjoy! If you want to visit or follow the journey with Mike go directly to his blog at pmtheatrelab2014.blogspot.com
TUESDAY, 12 AUGUST 2014
What a week!
I can't quite believe we've had a full week already, but what a week it's been! We've got two casts, 28 brilliant actors and one incredible ensemble.
So what have we been up to? Well, not only have we cast the show, started working on making sense of the text and begun blocking. We've also crammed in 3 masterclasses as well!Our first masterclass was led by Mary Howland. It focused on voice technique and how this can be used to make sense of Shakespeare's text. We now use these vocal exercises as the basis for our daily warm-up. Much like a sports warm-up these focus on stretching muscles but with an aim to increase volume, clarity and vocal dexterity. A particular favourite of mine is Raisin Face/Lion Face, as can be seen below - I'll let you decide which one you think we're doing!
Our second session with Mary looked at deciphering the clues provided in the text. We began by getting our pencils and getting really stuck into our scripts. Putting double slashes when a phrase is finished and single slashes when a phrase is unfinished phrase - deciphering this using the punctuation provided in the text. We went on to consider the nucleus of phrases and bringing out the euphonious words where appropriate. A number of the actors seem to have a career in advertising beckoning!
Our next masterclass focused on movement - finding ways of moving through space and how this impacts on character. The session was run by Simon Rivers who some of you may recognise from the BBC series Doctors and who played Mephistopheles in Present Moment's production of Doctor Faustus. Beginning with an exercise to develop focus - we saw how movement can combine with sound to create rhythms within an assemble. This also introduced the importance of working as an ensemble, and providing an awareness of the other actors - something he developed through a number of exercises.
Next the actors improvised what it meant to move as: fire, water, earth and air. Known as Elemental work these experiential exercises aimed at stretching the actors imaginations and bodies. Also proving very fruitful when discussing these styles of movement in relation to character.
There were a number of other exercises including mirroring and status games but too many to mention here. This was a workshop focused on introducing ideas and - through experiential exercises - developing a palette of movements in the actors' muscle memories.
The final masterclass of the week was a puppetry workshop by Raven Kaliana of the Little Angel Theatre. We looked at the possible uses of puppetry within the wider context of theatre. What they can do easily and what can be more of a challenge - before thinking in the terms of The Tempest where puppetry may be a good solution.
We looked at shadow puppets and how to create them. Introducing the idea of three dimensional shadow puppets and moving light-sources. How this can easily create textures, landscapes, journeys and scale using little more than a handheld torch and some crumpled fabric!
We then moved onto more traditional puppets and the fundamentals of creating them. Starting with a pole, a mask and a piece of fabric each of the groups of actors created vibrant characters - each with individual personalities and ways of moving.
All three masterclasses have provided me with revelations and I know from the actor's reflections that they have too. Whether it's discussing which characters are which element, finding ways to create personalities from lifeless materials or speaking the text with a greater understanding of the character's thought processes. I have seen these actors develop in front of my eyes this week and this is all work we will build on and take with us into production. You may not see any of these exercises in the final performance but the work done and insight gained will be more than evident.
