Tuesday, 6 October 2015
The Hiccup. (2nd October 2015)
Well, after having a meeting with my course leader about the idea, one of the members of our group has dropped out before the process has even begun! Although it is down heartening - as we haven't even had a meeting yet - everyone else in the group is willing to push forward and get our idea's together for the proposal.
The Proposal. (2nd October 2015)
After the stress of the day before, I was slightly concerned about the moral at the meeting, however we were all on a similar page and ready to continue pushing forward as a group. As there were concerns about the amount of research and political difficulties of doing a piece on 'The Pusher' we decided to look at something else.
Although there were lots of idea's floating around, we just kept drifting back to a physical theatre piece Kane and I came up with last Christmas about a boy and a girl. We all thought it would be a very powerful piece and could be easily adapted to four friends. It is basically that these 'four' friends all have issues going on in there lives but that actually the focus, like with children, is not on the issues but more on dealing with life. Sarah had the idea that actually the main theme of our piece was isolation and that it was important we had a dramatic intention or driving force behind the piece.
We discussed how one of our main inspirations is actually going to be music. It is so important in not only accessing the child within us, but also in emoting the story fully to the audience. Music emotes what the body struggles say and this links beautiful with the theory stated by Lorna Marshell that the body "is the core of all real-world communication" (pg VI). This then made us come to the decision that we wanted little or no speech in the piece what so ever. It will be a challenge to really embody the little moments, but it is also a really exciting thing to look into! Here are some of the pieces (mainly supplied through Kane) of music we looked at to create our own little world and explores some of the ideas within the piece.
Joanna Newsom - The Sprout and the bean
Amelie Soundtrack - Comptine d'Un Autre Été- Die fabelhafte
Lana Del Rey - Put me in a movie
Hook - I remember by John Williams Piano Cover
Rain Sound Effects
Robin Sound Effects
Erik Satie - Gymnopédie No.1
From this inspiration, which mainly came from Kane's initial idea's from January last year, we came up with these four issues that the characters overcome in the piece. Most of the idea's link to vulnerability but how there innocence and childishness actually makes them strong in dealing with these. One little boy is deaf, one struggles with nightmare, one little girl explores her sexuality and has an innocent liking and fascination with women and finally the last girl (inspired by put me in a movie by Lana Del Rey) would be having inappropriate pictures taken off her with her father. It sounds as if there are a lot of strands but actually the focus would be on the vulnerability and how beautifully they deal with the issues rather than the issues themselves.
As soon as the idea of an imaginary world was mentioned, I had lots of ideas pop into my head regarding the theatre space! I think it is a very underused tool in theatre. Often people can remember names and not faces and I think it is the same with theatre. The aesthetic qualities help to emote more feelings from your audience and can help shape meaning into the space. As I have a slightly odd imagination to say the least, I thought it would be interesting to have the piece in darkness and have a lot of fun with glow in the dark objects! For example, I came up with a glow in the dark chalk hopscotch and Kane said that it would be a great entrance and exit for the children's imaginations. You could also have a lot of fun with glow in the dark crayola colour explosions and circus trick games. It is as if - even though the children are all in dark situations - they manage to find beauty and light in life.
After this, we then wrote down our main idea's and came up with this proposal in the template sheet we got given from our course leader.
Please can we make a strong request to have Niki
Woods as our supervisor
Overall, I thought this rehearsal went quite well, but in hindsight, we were getting all to caught up in meaning of things and themes so in turn we were over complicating everything. As a person, I am quite mellow and chilled and I think this is something I will bring to the group next meeting/rehearsal. Although we need to refine our idea's, we are only in the early stages and so are meant to be playing with lots of different exercises and activities; stress is actually hindering our creativity. We also requested Niki as this style of performance is her forte and we all thoroughly enjoyed having her for movement in first year.
Although there were lots of idea's floating around, we just kept drifting back to a physical theatre piece Kane and I came up with last Christmas about a boy and a girl. We all thought it would be a very powerful piece and could be easily adapted to four friends. It is basically that these 'four' friends all have issues going on in there lives but that actually the focus, like with children, is not on the issues but more on dealing with life. Sarah had the idea that actually the main theme of our piece was isolation and that it was important we had a dramatic intention or driving force behind the piece.
We discussed how one of our main inspirations is actually going to be music. It is so important in not only accessing the child within us, but also in emoting the story fully to the audience. Music emotes what the body struggles say and this links beautiful with the theory stated by Lorna Marshell that the body "is the core of all real-world communication" (pg VI). This then made us come to the decision that we wanted little or no speech in the piece what so ever. It will be a challenge to really embody the little moments, but it is also a really exciting thing to look into! Here are some of the pieces (mainly supplied through Kane) of music we looked at to create our own little world and explores some of the ideas within the piece.
Joanna Newsom - The Sprout and the bean
Amelie Soundtrack - Comptine d'Un Autre Été- Die fabelhafte
Lana Del Rey - Put me in a movie
Hook - I remember by John Williams Piano Cover
Rain Sound Effects
Robin Sound Effects
Erik Satie - Gymnopédie No.1
From this inspiration, which mainly came from Kane's initial idea's from January last year, we came up with these four issues that the characters overcome in the piece. Most of the idea's link to vulnerability but how there innocence and childishness actually makes them strong in dealing with these. One little boy is deaf, one struggles with nightmare, one little girl explores her sexuality and has an innocent liking and fascination with women and finally the last girl (inspired by put me in a movie by Lana Del Rey) would be having inappropriate pictures taken off her with her father. It sounds as if there are a lot of strands but actually the focus would be on the vulnerability and how beautifully they deal with the issues rather than the issues themselves.
As soon as the idea of an imaginary world was mentioned, I had lots of ideas pop into my head regarding the theatre space! I think it is a very underused tool in theatre. Often people can remember names and not faces and I think it is the same with theatre. The aesthetic qualities help to emote more feelings from your audience and can help shape meaning into the space. As I have a slightly odd imagination to say the least, I thought it would be interesting to have the piece in darkness and have a lot of fun with glow in the dark objects! For example, I came up with a glow in the dark chalk hopscotch and Kane said that it would be a great entrance and exit for the children's imaginations. You could also have a lot of fun with glow in the dark crayola colour explosions and circus trick games. It is as if - even though the children are all in dark situations - they manage to find beauty and light in life.
After this, we then wrote down our main idea's and came up with this proposal in the template sheet we got given from our course leader.
BA3 Theatre / Comedy Projects 2013-14
Proposal
Form
Submission Deadline – Monday
5th October, 4.pm. Submissions to be sent electronically to t.l.crossley@salford.ac.uk
Company Name: TBC
Student Names (& pathway):
Jack Leslie
D+T
Kane Henchion
D+T
Sarah Prest
D+T
Katie Larvin
D+T
Working Title: TBC
Project
Description:
(Ideas/Themes): This piece is a
physical exploration of the isolation and loneliness experienced through the
eyes of a child. We want to use movement, through physical theatre, and clever
use of space to symbolise a surreal form of escapism through the visuals of a
deaf boy’s life and his friends.
Project Aims:
Our projects main aim
is to create a visual representation - and visual impact - of the imaginary
world that children create in their mind to cope with everyday problems. It
lets the audience feel and see the beautiful way in which children deal with
these issues, but also the loneliness and isolation felt as being a child that
is different. The hope is that they will walk away from the piece, effected
emotionally and more connected to not only their inner child, but also other
people’s inner self and child.
Suggested Performance
Location:
Robert Powell Theatre
Technical/Production
requirements:
We are interested in
incorporating music (soundtracks), light, sound and media throughout the piece.
We are also interested in looking at drawing (with glow in the dark chalk) a
hopscotch on the floor and 4 shadow screens to put on the stage. As we want to
use lights and neon to create the world of imagination, we would like to use
glow in the dark props and costume, and so would like the theatre to be as dark
as possible at times throughout the piece but also with spotlights at specific
moments. We will also need music playing.
Initial Bibliography:
01287 623355
Overall, I thought this rehearsal went quite well, but in hindsight, we were getting all to caught up in meaning of things and themes so in turn we were over complicating everything. As a person, I am quite mellow and chilled and I think this is something I will bring to the group next meeting/rehearsal. Although we need to refine our idea's, we are only in the early stages and so are meant to be playing with lots of different exercises and activities; stress is actually hindering our creativity. We also requested Niki as this style of performance is her forte and we all thoroughly enjoyed having her for movement in first year.
Bibliography
- Glendinning, A. 2015. Serial Killer dubbed 'The Pusher' is killing city's gay men by pushing them into canal's, says author. The Mirror [online]. Available from: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/serial-killer-dubbed-the-pusher-6318233 [Accessed August 28, 2015].
- Hesketh, S. and Pye, D. 2015. EXCLUSIVE: 'Find out who killed our sons!' New canal death sparks fears The Pusher's back. Daily Star [online]. Available from: http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/424390/Manchester-canal-Pusher-killer-students-deaths-tragic-parents-find-murderer [Accessed August 16, 2015].
- Johnstone, K. 1979. 'Impro' Improvisation and Theatre. Great Britain: Methuen Drama.
- Malerman, J. 2014. BirdBox. London: HarperVoyager.
- McAuley, G. 1999. Space in performance. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
- No Author, 2015. 'The Pusher' 60 bodies dragged from Manchester Canal, Serial Killer Rumoured. RT Question More [online]. Available from: https://www.rt.com/uk/222655-serial-killer-manchester-canals/ [Accessed August 15, 2015].
- Rodgers, T. 2015. The Pusher: Channel 4 documentary to investigate Manchester canal 'Serial Killer' claim. Salford News [online]. Available from: http://salfordonline.com/6621-the-pusher-channel-4-documentary-to-investigate-manchester-canal-serial-killer-claim.html [Accessed August 24, 2015].
- Wheatstone, R. 2015. 'The Pusher' professor stands by canal serial killer claims and says bereaved families share his fears. Manchester Evening News [online]. Available from: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/the-pusher-professor-stands-canal-8450695 [Accessed August 15, 2015].
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