Waste of time. (10th Nov)

So we all arrived for a rehearsal and unfortunately could not find one spare room. We ended up slumped in a hallway on the teachers corridor. There was no space in the building as it was a tuesday so all the practical rooms were taken and seminars taking place in the classrooms. It wasn't totally waisted as we managed to get Niki in the hallway. She discussed that she had spoke to the technicians and that unfortunately, with the equipment we have available to us, there is no way we can recreate the vibrations a deaf person would hear.

Denise then came down the corridor and we were quite excited that she had heard about our piece. The conversation moved onto how to make our piece interesting and not cliché; she seemed to like the focus on this idea of exposure. A key element of our piece is making everything connect so it is not just a segment to make the audience feel something, but a performance that at least has some structural overarching theme. I understood where she was coming from and as we go along this is something we need to give some considerable though.

We then decided to call it a day as Sarah had to go somewhere and we weren't getting anywhere. I was struggling to keep on top of my log book so decided to take the time to do that instead. It did feel highly unprofessional and annoying though. In the previous year I got two 52's in performance grades due to people refusing to rehearse the day before the exam. Not only is this detrimental to my health but it is also really frustrating when there are people in the group that want to put the work in!

Bibliography 

• Cronshaw, A. (2015). Review: Golem at HOME, Manchester. The Manchester Evening News. [online] Available at: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/theatre-news/review-golem-at-home-manchester-10220839 [Accessed 12 Oct. 2015].
• Digital Theatre, (2013) Unmissable Culture - Frantic Assembly's Lovesong Exclusive Clip. Available from: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_ZF6R3awyI> [Accessed 2 November 2015].
• DistantMirrors, (2012). Eric Satie - Gymnopédie No.1. [video].
• Festspiele, S. (2015). FestspielFenster: Suzanne Andrade über „Golem". [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz2Gmq0fAis [Accessed 12 Oct. 2015].
• 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].
• Graham, S. and Hoggett, S. 2014. The Frantic Assembly Book of Devising Theatre 2nd ed. Oxon: Routledge.
• 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.
• McAuley, G. 1999. Space in performance. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
• Malerman, J. 2014. BirdBox. London: HarperVoyager.
• Marshall, L. 2002. The body speaks. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
• National Theatre Discover, (2015) Frantic Assembly Masterclass: Building Blocks for Devising. Available from: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUqZPfGIX6U> [Accessed 2 November 2015].
• 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].
• PedobaerUPedohase, 2013. The XX - Intro [online]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gxNW2Ulpwk [Accessed November 6, 2015].
• Rhys, E. (2015). Golem, HOME. [online] The Manchester Review. Available at: http://www.themanchesterreview.co.uk/?p=5099 [Accessed 12 Oct. 2015].
• Robkardani, (2009) Enya - Sail Away (Orinoco Flow). Available from: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glyErSTQrDI> [Accessed 3 November 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].
• TheCornerShopPR, (2011) Steven Hoggett and Scott Graham - Lovesong- Frantic Assembly. Available from: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF-22alcjAU> [Accessed 2 November 2015].
• Warnervoduk. 2014. The science of sleep. [Online]. [Date Accessed: 13th October, 2015]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TibGeB7NHIo
• 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]. 
• Youtube, (2011). 4 Bar and Rising. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpatthkyCmk [Accessed 2 Nov. 2015].

Sarah's House - Music Madness. (6th November).

So today, I woke up in an absolute terrible state. As no one can rehearse any other time, and work not budging on my hours for the next two weeks, it means I have had to compromise with the rehearsals and come in after a very busy night the day before. Sarah was also unwell due to her steroids so instead of going round Adelphi looking for a spare rehearsal room we decided to work in her lounge. Jack, Kane and I got a taxi to hers for 2pm for a 3 hour rehearsal.

As we were all feeling pretty rubbish and drained we decided to play splat to get our energy up then put on some funny music and starting running round Sarah's lounge doing silly shapes! I had also in the morning done some yoga nidra in the hope it would release some tension from my muscles; hopefully helping my muscular and joint pain. I informed the group of the key elements I had been influenced by the 'Book of Devising Theatre' and suggested they all read it. We also caught Sarah up on the part of the piece we had came up with in the session before. She wasn't overly keen on masses of it, which we agreed when looking back, however she liked our overall idea and thought it could be really developed into something more stylistic.

We then got up and tried to find a piece of music that was more stylistic and recognizable. Personally, I found Intro by The XX to cliche for a physical theatre piece but agreed to work on it for now as it did have a good rhythm we could pick on (PedobaerUPedohase, 2013). We all stood in places round the room and focused on the different rhythms. This relied us to totally just go with the music. As stated by Frantic Assembly, actually just the process of tying your shoes creates a wonderful "dance with your hands" (Graham & Hoggett, 2014) and so we were open to any bits of inspiration. There seemed to be a really nice connection with the different rhythms me and sarah created when we both moved forward at the same time. Jack seemed very much in his own world which added a new dynamic to the piece. Kane watched us do it without music and said there was something intriguing about this. We decided to give ourselves each a different rhythm and work on this at home.

The discussion then moved onto the begging part of the performance and how and where we wanted to incorporate the shadow screen. We decided we could use it for key elements of the piece such as the Charlie Chaplin scene, abusing the audience with light and then possible for the blackbird scene. A lot of our rehearsals have been halted by the fact we have not had access to the shadow screen so Jack has booked a meeting with Mark for the following week so we can arrange some rehearsals with it.

We also came up with a running order that followed like this:

• Bright lights sequence
• Assault of music
• Gym Scene with Audio description
• Circuit/obstacle course 
• She Narrative
• Charlie Chaplin scene
• Song without sound
• Blackbird scene
• Have you ever heard?
• And then some form of ending. 

Overall, I thought, again, there was just something down about the groups rehearsal. I think the underlying stress of not having much material on its feet is hindering our creative process. People are quite snappy in rehearsals and want it to be perfect first time and have an idea right there and then. Although we did make progress I think once we have the shadow screen everything should start falling into place! Hopefully. I also realize that my condition is beginning to be a more noticeable problem; it is obviously hard for the others to work with someone who is drained of energy. With the stress we all just seem to be energy vacuums at the moment!

Bibliography 

• Cronshaw, A. (2015). Review: Golem at HOME, Manchester. The Manchester Evening News. [online] Available at: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/theatre-news/review-golem-at-home-manchester-10220839 [Accessed 12 Oct. 2015].
• Digital Theatre, (2013) Unmissable Culture - Frantic Assembly's Lovesong Exclusive Clip. Available from: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_ZF6R3awyI> [Accessed 2 November 2015].
• DistantMirrors, (2012). Eric Satie - Gymnopédie No.1. [video].
• Festspiele, S. (2015). FestspielFenster: Suzanne Andrade über „Golem". [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz2Gmq0fAis [Accessed 12 Oct. 2015].
• 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].
• Graham, S. and Hoggett, S. 2014. The Frantic Assembly Book of Devising Theatre 2nd ed. Oxon: Routledge.
• 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.
• McAuley, G. 1999. Space in performance. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
• Malerman, J. 2014. BirdBox. London: HarperVoyager.
• Marshall, L. 2002. The body speaks. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
• National Theatre Discover, (2015) Frantic Assembly Masterclass: Building Blocks for Devising. Available from: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUqZPfGIX6U> [Accessed 2 November 2015].
• 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].
• PedobaerUPedohase, 2013. The XX - Intro [online]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gxNW2Ulpwk [Accessed November 6, 2015].
• Rhys, E. (2015). Golem, HOME. [online] The Manchester Review. Available at: http://www.themanchesterreview.co.uk/?p=5099 [Accessed 12 Oct. 2015].
• Robkardani, (2009) Enya - Sail Away (Orinoco Flow). Available from: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glyErSTQrDI> [Accessed 3 November 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].
• TheCornerShopPR, (2011) Steven Hoggett and Scott Graham - Lovesong- Frantic Assembly. Available from: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF-22alcjAU> [Accessed 2 November 2015].
• Warnervoduk. 2014. The science of sleep. [Online]. [Date Accessed: 13th October, 2015]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TibGeB7NHIo
• 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]. 
• Youtube, (2011). 4 Bar and Rising. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpatthkyCmk [Accessed 2 Nov. 2015].