sarah's blog for DIC

11th March- 12th April

2010-04-12T05:01:00.000-07:00

Been busy with university work- forgotten to keep up to date with blog so apologies.

1) Mexican night
Came in at 10 and made decorations that were pinyatas, cacti, Mexican men,Mexican flags etc for SU night.
After we finished we had a pint and admired art work.
At 8 we were all in SU on the door or having a good time. A very successful night led by Jennie and Jade and made a profit.

2) Changes
Now made changes to the parade making it a story so the design team are a bit stuck with ideas - have stopped making stuff until we know story which is annoying but been making face moulds for masks so half the classes in the workshops can make masks and made things for Mexican Night. Also the design team are going to lead the making day, Saturday 22nd May.

3) Morris Dancers
Me, Charlotte, Zoe and Emily went to Kingston to see Morris dancers. So fun. Took part in trying to morris dance. The morris dancers showed a fertility dance to me and Zoe, which was filmed!!

4) Contacts
Keep trying to meet up with my contacts but the ones who responded say they'll get in touch after Easter.

5) Ham House Easter Event
Me, Siobhan and Zoe went to Ham House to facepaint and to hand out flyers for big event. I wasn't going to facepaint as didn't want to destroy kid's faces or get it on clothes so gave out the flyers and Gary gave us an Easter Egg when we had finished. It was a busy but relaxing fun day to be had by all.

6)Changes
The design team decided not to make our things in workshops, as people didn't turn up. We also needed a kick up the bum to pursue with our contacts in the meeting with Mark.

7) Feelings
I feel pleased with project. Ok, got a lot of work to do but we've got this project off the ground and brought it to life due to hard work. Much more relaxed than a couple of weeks ago. I feel like we are on top of project and it could be a great success.

these two weeks 26th february- 10th March

2010-03-11T07:25:00.000-08:00

Right. Monday before last- went to Ham House to familiarize ourselves with Ham House once again. Very beneficial as realized size of grass squares. Then had meeting in The Fox and Duck pub, which was so relaxed and was nice to socialize with group outside university. Then had some food which Pretti and Tai arranged for us. The Thai food was lovely and greatly appreciated.

Then on Tuesday we had design meeting in the S.U. writing up worksheets for costumes and props made accompanied with a pint of cider and black. Students til we die!! Then in evening I went to bell ringing in All Hallows church in Twickenham and I get vertigo so climbing ladders and the spiral staircase was a scary experience. Not as scary as the tower swaying when the bell ringing was taking place. I didn't realize the complexity and concentration needed for bell ringing and am very grateful as I learnt a lot about the art. When I had a go, it was hilarious, I could not get hang of it. I was scared I wouldn't let go and go up with the bell but thankfully I succeeded in the end.

This week I've re-emailed my Kingston schools hoping they'll get into gear and express their interest and e-mail back. Did have 4 schools reply, which is positive when I said "there is a limited number". It can be so frustrating trying to get people interested. Feel like banging my head against a brick wall.

Trying to get in touch with drag queens due to Mark's comment about there needing to be more comedy quirky acts but this is proving difficult as know how much drag queens earn at a gig and they will want to be paid otherwise they won't do it. But shall keep on trying my hardest believe me.

I'm going to ring all Kingston schools who have not got back to me by today tomorrow and try to get them interested.

I'm also DSMing at my local theatre Questors in Sweeney Todd the musical. Its fun and a great experience as that is the career I want to do. It's all been a bit of a blur the past two weeks. Sweney Todd and D.I.C. have taken over my life but I can deal with it.

On the design side, not much has been happening really due to hectic schedules. As I said we wrote out how to make everything and thats it as far as I can remember as we didn't have a meeting this week. I'm trying to find a job for next yesr as well as stage management experience so I am reading a lot and doing a lot of research.

We made flowers successfully last Thursday.

Got a very hectic schedule for the next few months that I'm getting used to but determined to get my work done on time successfully and be a successful DSM. A case of balancing university work, pleasure and socializing and questors voluntary work experience which is scary but exciting.

8th Feb-25th Feb

2010-02-25T05:18:00.000-08:00

Ok just want to get this out of the way before start.
Arrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so stressed and tired because of many problems but going to calm down, even though I feel frustrated, low and worried I'll write my blog in a sensible format.

These two weeks have been ok in fact that I'm starting to get replies from Kingston schools. In the process of arranging a meeting with the teachers. Two Thursdays ago the whole group made masks successfully but we didn't have all the materials to make group's masks look interesting which was disheartening but I suppose it was just ideas we passed on. Found it really easy to teach the class how to make masks and really enjoyed the process.

We've had various productive meetings with Tina, made and discussed things including masks, flowers and hats. It's a fun lesson. I genuinely get on with the d.i.c. group and Tina is a star because I appreciate her time and help she gives!We are going to make face moulds for the 1 successful type of mask on Tuesday so we can take that into schools.

Other teams have been hard at work. Fund raising is successful and house liaison team and events coordination are working on presentation for the 4th March. Basically a plan of what's happening on day and estimated numbers. The events liaison team feed back from all our questions to Gary and Jorge, the Ham House managers, which is helpful. I don't think we've realised amount of people we'll be dealing with and timing issues arose in meeting. I'm disappointed by commitment of certain people. I know people have reason for not being in meetings, but it seems to be the same people on the ball time after time again and its not fair.

For example last Thursday was a poor turn out and we didn't have meetings/workshops. I understand as people went home for reading week. On Monday there was a poor turn out so I beg people to make these meetings- we need you there. I've got DSM work in Questors for work experience purposes which I'm excited about so it's going to be busy for me again but I prefer to be kept on my toes rather than doing nothing. Anyways I need to e-mail schools and make flowers in the workshop today xx

25th-7th January/February

2010-02-11T05:41:00.000-08:00

We've made a lot of progress in the last two weeks with contacting people and getting responses so we can chase the responses ans start workshops. We had our first meeting with Tina. What a lovely, clever and helpful lady. We gave her our ideas of the procession and she gave us some ideas with the different blocks of colur for the pieces of grass and the "community rainbow" procession. Our ideas just seemed to bounce off one another. So far, we've got ideas of masks, flowers, different groups in different coloured t-shirts, big puppets like a chinese dragon. Then we also thought of ways of decorating pushchairs or wheelchairs and to have different blocks of grass for different performances in Ham House. We thought of simplistic things such as all the red block to have a red belt. So last Thursday we put our ideas to the group which they loved.

We all have our set roles. I'm inthe design team. It's absolute madness. We are doing 2 events and organizing 1000 people to parade into Ham House, see performances and then sing a few songs including Happy Birthday to Ham House. We all agreed to keep to the recycled theme and make costumes out of recyclable material. Tina helped us with where we could get everything. already we've got 42 school choirs. I'm getting scared now!!! On Monday we didn't really talk about much. Karina gave feedback from Georg and Gary. I really like the drama in the community group as we all are close and can co-operate well so I feel confident this project is going to be a success.

Last Tuesday we had a making masks workshop with Tina. All the design team can back me up on this by saying how useful and fun it was. I think we all got a bit too carried away. Now we can put our newly found skills into teaching mask workshops to peers and children in schools so the children have their masks for the procession.

Also, I've been cracking on with finding contacts for Kingston and Richmond schools and churches. I'm so busy. I'm helping Charotte with Arabian Nights plus other lecture requirements so I must go and crack on with some more work and teach the drama in the community group how to make masks.

The Lion King Review

2010-01-24T16:08:00.000-08:00

We went to see The Lion King on Thursday 21st January 2010. The opening was phenomenal with the puppets and dancers coming down the aisles. It is a clever performance with the set and puppets. Although I felt a bit bored as knew what was going to happen as seen it once before and the first time was a better experience due to it being amazing, unbelievable and breath taking. My favourite character was Rafiki who spoke in Click, danced and added humour to the piece. I wanted to get up and sing and dance with the actors sometimes as knew the words. I wouldn't go back to see it again though as thought my expectations were too high and was brought down by disappointment.

18th-22nd January 2010 This week

2010-01-24T15:54:00.000-08:00

Well it's been a hectic week. We started delegating roles for 400th birthday party at Ham House. I'm doing design because am interested in costume. We had a year meeting followed by a D.I.C. meeting on Monday and told what the plan for Ham House was which made me a little more relaxed about the project and started to think about who we might include in the 400th birthday party. A carnival procession with eight plots of grass as stages was a great idea. We heard how our colleagues got on in Spain with Spiral. We are going to develop ideas based on the carnival theme. I thought we could incorporate schools by encouraging them to perform something. For example in a past lecture, we had to create a performance based on "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time" and would like to teach children our lesson plans so they can do a performance relating to the book. We've been asked to start getting in contact with schools or community centres. The people who went to Spiral had a great idea of different banners being created by the children that were draped out of the windows. I would like to use idea as I think this is important as the children then can feel like they've added something to the 400th birthday party. I feel excited but nervous at the same time about Ham House's 400th birthday party.

20th December 2009

2010-01-13T14:40:00.000-08:00

Into the Hoods

On Sunday I went to the Southbank Centre to see Into the Hoods which is classed as hip hop theatre. The plot is based on all different fairy tales but they have been put into the modern day, i.e. MC Rapunzel and Lil Red. The hip hop dancing was impressive but I don't know why but I expected an outstanding quality and it didn't come up to my expectations. The people had obviously rehearsed and I couldn't fault the dancing but the storyline didn't seem to flow and the plot seemed quite stilted and wooden. As for the acting, well that was bad but they were focusing on the dancing. It was very interesting to note that they only used recorded music and voices and not any live music or live voices. The set and technology was very complex with projections and moving pieces of scenery and projections of writing coming up as the character is writing it. It did have an impact on me but I wouldn't go back.

19th December 2009

2010-01-13T14:34:00.000-08:00

Saturday was very hectic to say the least. It was non stop. I was roaming, then face painting and then back to roaming again. Only 7-8 people were in and it was a very busy day as we had about 500 people come through the doors. We all knew the routine inside out by now and to be honest I was getting bored of my story. Again, I'm so sorry to the children I was attempting to face paint. It was a disaster but I know I'll feel empty and lost without Ham House. The creative collab performances were so impressive and inspirational.

13th december 2009

2010-01-13T14:27:00.001-08:00

Well this was going to be a very busy day as there were only a few of us in. I was roaming for an hour in the freezing cold then facepainting and then back to roaming and it was so cold. I felt my character had developed into a pantomime dame, I was so loud I was told to keep the noise down. This was the busiest day. I think about 600 people came. I'm finding when I tell the story to children, they either get bewildered and confused, understand or love the story. They sometimes just walked away in the middle of my story but I find it much easier to concentrate as I direct my story to the children with my eyes and gestures.

12th December 2009

2010-01-13T14:18:00.000-08:00

Saturday at Ham House. The start of our second weekend. It was quite busy and I really enjoyed telling my story. I felt like as I got more confident with my story, the more my character developed and became real. I feel sorry for the kids who come to me for facepainting. I try my best but I feel so pressurized when the parents keep looking over to see what you're doing. The children ask for really random things but I do enjoy face painting. i like to see the children's happy faces at the end.

11th december 2009

2010-01-13T14:12:00.000-08:00

In Lesson

What we did:

We had a meeting about next semester. We discussed the different sorts of ways that we could be assessed. We discussed our participation in the 400th birthday at Ham House.

Feelings:

I feel really excited but nervous about next semester. Next semester is going to be a very hectic schedule.

Ideas/Inspirations:

I want to use our "Curious Incident of the dog in the Night time" physical theatre piece in our workshops. I want to do reminiscence theatre and work with people with special needs.

6th December 2009

2010-01-13T14:07:00.000-08:00

Second day of Ham House. We got feedback and amended our rota to make ourselves more busy and have less breaks. We talked about what worked and what didn't. Everyone was much more confident. I felt that I really enjoyed Sunday as I really enjoyed telling my stories and I got into my character and dramatized the story. I was pleased roaming outside as you could see the children's reactions. Overall it was a busier, much more successful day.

5th December 2009

2010-01-13T13:59:00.000-08:00

First day at Ham House. I think everyone was a bit apprehensive about the day such as with the face painting. I don't think we knew how the audience would react. For the first couple of hours the basement was very quiet. I found it very difficult to roam inside the house so I went outside. I also found it hard to tell my stor to adults as it was more directed to children. I found that my confidnce grew throughout the day. I found that I got into my character as the day went on. I really enjoyed the face painting bit but I found that lots of children wanted tigers. I felt really inspired by all the playtext pieces and all the effort put in by everyone. The whole experience of the first day at Ham House was patchy throughout.

4/12/09

2009-12-09T13:21:00.000-08:00

WHAT WE DID IN THE LESSON:
We did our last dress rehearsal in 5 different set. We received much more positive feedback and saw most of the stories and we received the rota for tomorrow.

FEELINGS:
I was much more confident and happy with piece. I did feel nervous about Saturday and Sunday as I felt we'd been thrown in at the deep end.

INSPIRATIONS/ IDEAS:
In the theatre craft workshop on Wednesday I receivede a talk on stage management and lighting which I found helpful.
I've been up to my ears in rehearsals so I've not been to the theatre in weeks.

27/11/09

2009-12-02T14:59:00.000-08:00

WHAT WE DID IN CLASS:

We did a dress rehearsal of our story telling pieces and gave feedback. We saw all the stories in their rooms and we were all in our costumes. I found everyone's stories to be very impressive as everyone has a different way of telling stories that they brought to the dress rehearsal.

FEELINGS:

I felt really bad as if I'd let my group down by forgetting my story because I let my nerves overtake me and I know and will rehearse thoroughly so I'm not crap on Friday.

INSPIRATIONS/IDEAS:

Siobhan and Megan's musical presentation was impressive with the use of puppets. Also today we had workshops at the London Colliseum on many things including stage management and lighting which is what I want to do as a career in the future so I found it useful, impressive and very informative. Eyndia's talk on PR was really inspiring as it made me learn about social media and all these things I didn't know about.

25/11/09

2009-11-25T15:08:00.000-08:00

WHAT WE DID IN LESSON:
We played keeper of the keys. This is a game where there is one person blindfolded in the middle with a set of keys placed beneath them and someone has to quietly walk around the circle and then try to grab the keys. The keeper has to try to detect and point out where they are based on hearing- was very hard. We also played wink murder and monster. We focused on characterisation as we asked questions to ourselves based on our character to do with scenery and surrounding, age, name, mood etc.. We then practiced the stories ourselves trying to perfect our charaterisation and put an apt voice to our character. We then got into pairs and directed and acted and listened to our stories. We focused on bringing the character and story to life and trying to make it as interesting as possible. We then did hotseating for the Q and A group who have Mrs Claus and Nicky Claus and we asked a range of questions from childish to adult. I found it so funny and successful as they stayed in character throughout the piece.

FEELINGS:
I feel a bit concerned about the face painting because I can do face painting but are we going to practice? Are there any themes? I am happy to say that I finally feel confident about my made up stories.

INSPIRATIONS/IDEAS:
The Lion King lecture on Monday was really interesting to dance, sing and act. It made me even more want to become a stage manager on a show like this as I know it would be challenging but it is my dream job.

20/11/09.

2009-11-25T14:58:00.000-08:00

WHAT WE DID IN LESSON:

We went into the basement of Ham House to see and decide where to perform our stories. We practiced saying stories in performance mode. I decided to tell stories roaming around the basement as my stories are short. I also decided to use my made up stories rather than learn a long story I couldn't remember that I didn't like. We were told about costume that we've got to bring in for next week and we got told that we had to learn our stories for next week

FEELINGS:

Finally I feel kind of ready for the christmas events. I felt bad for Mark as I hadn't learnt my story but I feel so confident about my stories.

INSPIRATIONS/IDEAS:

To be honest I've been so busy with my head in books researching or typing out essays I've not had time to become inspired by anything significant.

18/11/09

2009-11-18T15:57:00.000-08:00

WHAT WE DID IN LESSON:

This was another lesson we organized ourselves. We started again by playing games such as Prisoner .v. Guard which is based on quick reflex actions as you've got to get away from the chairs that are positioned in a circle before the guards who are standing behind the chairs touch you. This was a fun start to the lesson. We then did a vocal warm up which consisted of siren sounds and tongue twisters. This made me feel like I was ready to perform my piece. We then got into pairs and listened to each other's stories which we had been told to learn. I was the actor being directed. I was told to live the part and really empathize with my character. I found this a very effective way to rehearse as it was not so nerve wracking. We then observed people perform their different stories. I was very impressed with the characterisation and effort of the stories of people. It made me feel very hopeful. As for Frank- what can I say. What a talented person. He was so helpful and he gave me tips on how to perform and tell stories through his body language and vocal tones.

FEELINGS
I've found it really hard to learn my story and I feel I stutter and stumble and am not confident with myself reading my story as I don't know it well enough and believe me I've tried so hard and I will keep trying because I'm no slacker and would like to tell my story. I'm stressed and excited at the same time because of the time issues and the Christmas events at Ham House.

IDEAS/INSPIRATIONS
I stutter and stumble and am a nervous wreck when reading out my story so I've got an idea that my story would sound better coming from someone who is more confident. This is not me being lazy. It's a case of my memory being overloaded. I'm going to write a magical story so it would be easy to remember as I've written it. What do people think anyways?

13/11/09

2009-11-18T15:35:00.000-08:00

WHAT WE DID IN LESSON:

We played games such as the A...B...C... game where in pairs you start a conversation beginning with the letter A. Then every sentence you go through the alphabet. The game was better and more interesting if one acted out the situations and didn't think solely about it. We played the atmosphere game where two people went out the room and we picked an emotion and tried to make them feel that emotion through our visceral subtle responses.

We then took our plays and read them to someone and to groups. We then decided to choose one story we liked and the story teller of that particular story. The story tellers created characters suitable for the role of the narrators and invited us i to their atmosphere they had created and told their stories in character like we would be doing at christmas in the house. We went from one person to another person and I found this method of story telling very effective and made me feel child-like.

FEELINGS:

I've felt I've chosen a complex story and don't know if I'll be able to learn it. There is so much work in for the next few weeks. Stress....stress...stress. Aaaarrggghhh!!!!!!!!!! Although I do feel very excited about Ham House as the days draw nearer.

IDEAS/INSPIRATIONS:

I would really like to invite people into the house in character. For example maids as in mine, Chantelle's and Karina's performance. It would make the house feel alive and we can add a sense of comedy to it.
I also would like to have a variety of stories so we can pick and choose which ones we like.

11th November 2009

2009-11-18T15:04:00.000-08:00

WHAT WE DID IN LESSON:
Number 1. My mind is a blank with what we did in the last Friday session on the 6th November hence why I've skipped a week. Too much work and my brain is getting fried.

This was a lesson set up by ourselves as we need extra time for work. This was more of a meeting than a rehearsal to discuss our progress and future plans. We played games such as cat and mouse ( the mouse has to join and link with people before he gets caught) and monster (prevent monster from getting empty chair as you all play as a team to try and stop the monster from sitting down). This relaxed me and was a fun element to the lecture. We discussed lots of marketing opportunities. For example late night Teddington to make our christmas events known to the public. We were asked to get stories for Friday based on either christmas or winter. Also Mark mentioned the reminiscence theatre project which I would still be very interested in.

FEELINGS:
I finally feel more relaxed as we are now getting some work done for the Christmas events and I'm feeling confident about the DIC Christmas festivities.

IDEAS/INSPIRATIONS:

I had the idea of using old unknown fairy tales as a basis for our winter/christmas stories. We could make them magical by adapting them.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.An absolutely amazing book. I recommend you all to read it as people can learn so many things from the book.

review of the great extension

2009-11-18T14:59:00.000-08:00

‘The Great Extension’ – a review

Hassan, a second generation Turk, wakes up one morning with a hangover but the accompanying headache isn’t to do with the noise from his builder doing an extension, but the fact he had got married the previous day, in alcoholic blackout, to a Muslim beauty named Jamillia. His problems are compounded by the arrival of her disapproving family members in the guise of her irate father, a very protective brother and a sister (concealed in full Muslim dress with only her eyes on show). A further complication is added by the complaints about the building works from his reactionary neighbour, the very English Mr Brown, as well as the arrival of Hassan’s materialistic and insensitive Turkish father accompanied by his alcoholic wife, Hassan’s suffering mother. Throw in a transsexual houseboy and a black policeman, trained in diversity training but not in spotting a corpse, and we have a perfect recipe for this amusing and intelligent farce.
Written by Cosh Omar, who also plays the lead role as Hassan, this challenging farce tackles the hypocrisy inherent in not just the Islamic faith but in all religions. Despite the frequent references to the Koran and other ‘spiritual’ literature on Hassan’s bookshelf, the characters seem to be drawn to the selfish material life manifested in property ownership and driving Mercedes cars. Omar comically deals with the issues of multiculturalism, racism, faith, Judo-Islamic conflict, and sexuality with the use of stereotyped characters in an amusing but inoffensive manner. The multi-ethnic audience laughed at these images and comments as they probably identified with these stereotyped characters. The acting was convincing and very visual, particularly from the actress playing the Muslim sister who used her eyes and voice, to good and comical effect.
I felt the last scene with the houseboy meeting a new boyfriend seemed superfluous and the attempted murder of Mr Brown didn’t seem in keeping with a comedy that was, in a way, celebrating multicultural London.
Overall, this was an enjoyable and thought provoking production and well worth the trip across London to Stratford East. Stratford East’s tradition as a community theatre is well served by this production with its excellent cast of eccentric and extreme characters that maintain an individuality that outweighs the stereotyping they represent. As I read in one review, the ‘themes are challenging and the performances, under Kerry Michael’s direction, are slick in this roller coaster of a ride, full of unseen twists and turns, that keeps us on our toes and wildly amused’.

Sarah Clopet

10th November 2009

6th lesson 30/11/09

2009-11-06T16:57:00.000-08:00

WHAT WE DID IN LESSON:

We were shown the rest of the storytelling pieces. I was impressed by Emily's and Siobhan's use of costume.
We discussed about christmas stories. We decided to do winter stories at christmas as it would set the atmosphere.
We went on a behind the scenes tour to places not open to the public. It was very interesting to see the space the men servants lived in relation to the women servants. I thought it was sad that so many rooms that so many rooms aren't available to the public because of storage space and I feel these places should be open to the public and included in the tours to the public as in my personal opinion the places and new discoveries made the house feel very alive. For example the tour guides read articles of servants living there and their stories. This gave me a real sense of their lifestyle. i enjoyed the tour as the stories were interesting and we went to places we didn't even know were there.

FEELINGS
I feel excited about the christmas project as it gradually gets nearer and nearer and I'm certain our company will pull all the stops out and make the weekends a success.
I feel like I know the house inside out and it has a real sense of life to me.
I'm so aware that we are going to have to work very hard and do extra rehearsals and lectures if we want our pieces to be successful and I'm not going to lie I'm quite worried about the amount of work and the time factor but I know we can and will be a success.
At the moment, I've only just realised how much work and rehearsals I'm going to have in the next month. Its crazy. I feel like work is getting on top of me and I feel very stressed and worried as there is so much to do and not enough time but I'm a hard worker and I'll get there. Sorry for the negativity guys. I promise I won't always be like this. It's 1:15am on a Friday night. I should be out not doing work.

INSPIRATIONS/ IDEAS:

I would really like to make the audiences at christmas feel that the place is alive and has been lived in through the use of props and costume if possible but its important also to focus on family fun mainly and history a bit.
I feel inspired by the book I've just read called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Hadden. I recommend it as I couldn't put it down. Its about a 15 year old boy's life who has Asperger's syndrome which is a form of Autism and it has inspired me because I would like to work with disabled or autistic children as I feel it could be very rewarding and uplifting and it could help in my other lectures as well.
I feel like I have to do something with reminiscence theatre as dementia is very personal to me and I feel I should give something back and work and interact with people who have dementia.

23rd October 2009

2009-10-28T13:54:00.000-07:00

LESSON:
Interesting talk on filming at Ham House by Harvey Edgington.
Went to filming cupboard to see what available to protect various pieces of furniture if filming in house.
Found out what needed protection.
Went into Great Hall to see what needed protection there if filming.
Asked about using films and techniques including smoke in house.
Listened and observed people's storytelling pieces.
Performed own story telling pieces.

FEELINGS:

Story telling piece was a success - hope so. Was for adults really and not children.
Would really like to use film as method of production in DIC projects in future.
Think we've got some great ideas. Ben's story of ill tempered snowman come to mind but are lots of successful stories. It's just a case of dramatizing them.

INSPIRATIONS/IDEAS:

Had an idea of theme based rooms - three rooms, three things or more to do with Christmas.Think that would be quite successful. What do you all think?
Really like idea of combining live theatre and recorded clips - would be eye catching, draw audience in. What do you all think?

what we did in lesson 16/10/09

2009-10-19T14:22:00.000-07:00

LESSON
An interesting talk about history of National Trust.
Garden Tour - beautiful, obviously hard to maintain.
Watched performance of "The Owl and The Pussy Cat". Zoe and Jennie gone to a lot of effort. Had used and made props. Used costumes - good example. Very impressive and effective story telling method especially for children.

FEELINGS

Should be coming up with ideas but despite trying can't think of many at the moment. Don't know why. I feel like I'm lazy and letting the group down but my brain is just a blank and I try to add on to other people's ideas.
Also feel like we have been given so much to do in so little time that we need to get started soon otherwise will not have a performance ready so I feel like we've got to start working.

INSPIRATIONS/IDEAS

Thought of using forum theatre getting the children and adults involved so part of the action and not get bored.
Also adapting fairy tales to make them modern and Christmas like.
Should use props and costumes as visually attractive.
Really want to use the gardens in summer when its warmer and create some physical theatre for audience as felt inspired by Paul's version of 4:48 Psychosis.

what we did in lesson 9th October 2009

2009-10-13T14:38:00.000-07:00

WHAT WE DID IN LESSON
Given lot of e-mails - work offers with different communities- very exciting.
Chose company manager and deputy .
Toured whole of Ham House. Differences between servant's quarters and aristocracy's parts interesting. Also finding out more about house's history.
Good and worthwhile to be able to assess and evaluate tours.
Discussed possibilities within christmas event- i.e. what going to do.

FEELINGS
Ham House - bit overwhelming but good to know everything about house because of Christmas project.
Very excited but calm about Christmas project and reminiscence theatre.
Feel know what I've got to do in terms of process of creating Christmas project

INSPIRATIONS
Power of Yes really made me angry as I finally understood the financial situation we are in due to my dad explaining it because for someone who doesn't understand first thing about finance it may as well be alien to me.
Thorpe Park inspires me as I'm working at Thorpe Park for fright nights - inspired by hard work and creativity and organisation that goes into the making and running of these events by all entertainments team.
University lectures especially Playback as would use our senses to create physical performances.

The Power of Yes

2009-10-13T03:15:00.000-07:00

‘The Power of Yes’ - David Hare – a few notes
(seen at The National Theatre’- 8th October 2009)

Content

Powerful, eco-political drama about causes, events and consequences of so called ‘Credit Crunch’ that ended in the recent downfall or near downfall of capitalism. Hare explains how over lending of banks to customers unable to repay loans resulted in banks being without money to further finance businesses and would-be home buyers. This further led to economic recession and rise in business bankruptcy and unemployment.

Hare points finger at greedy, arrogant bankers like Fred Goodwin of Royal Bank of Scotland but also at the government for failing to regulate banks. Play uses views of key bankers, academics and financial journalists to reveal facts of this colossal failure of banking system.

Staging

Hare writes himself into the play as a researcher directing questions to key financiers, government officials at the Financial Services Association as well as academics, to unfold the facts of the collapse of banking system. No dialogue between characters and all information comes from Hare’s interviews with these key characters. This is a very efficient and effective way of sharing the information with audience.

Economic and financial jargon unavoidable but certain terms such as sub-prime markets were explained at key points in story. Use of graphics revealing names of ‘Northern Rock’ and photos of Goodwin and others, assisted in conveying the potentially difficult subject matter to audience.

Message

1) Arrogant, greedy and incompetent bankers have got a lot to answer for
2) National government and departments such as FSA also to blame for lack of regulation
3) Markets can fail and innocent people not bankers pay price

Criticisms
without interval too long
2) Dialogue too hard to follow. People without background understanding of financial economics might find difficult to grasp

2nd October 2009- what we did in lecture

2009-10-07T08:12:00.000-07:00

what we did in lecture

Ham House Georg gave us House's history.
Discussed Christmas events and open days.
Thought about what, when, how, how long etc.
Georg said would accept all suggestions - nice he's so open.
Told to go away and think about project ideas.
Thought of lots of communities, different types and how we came to be in them.
Toured gardens- each group focused on a specific spot, which interested them. Improvised and observed history of Ham House scenarios. Fun seeing house for first time.

Feelings:
No idea where to start but have lots of random ideas for Christmas project,
Started to think about communities and different types.
Feel really happy with this course but worried because seems a lot of work.
Today assessment was made much clearer.
Feel bit stuck whereto start ideas process as don't want to make a fool of myself on Friday by just saying all these non- connected ideas.

Inspirations:

Not been to Ham House before - was taken in by magnificence and size.

Inspired by a lot of my university lectures this week.

Last week's physical approaches to playtext had a huge impact - introduced me to new form of creating physical theatre, playback. Allowed me to go through happiness and sadness at the same time.

Musical lecture amazing - I found out so many things about many musicals that I didn't know before and great presentations !!!!

25th September 2009- what we did in the first lecture

2009-10-07T07:53:00.000-07:00

lecture description

Discussed Ham House partnership.
Looked over the course outline and what we're doing this semester.
Discussed practical assessment plus blogs and best way to do them. Argghhh!!!! I'm so scared - haven't done before.
Ensured knew everything about professional blogs - seems hard work!!!
Looked at different ways and areas of assessment in practical and written category.

Feelings:

Really excited about course - lots of different opportunities.#
But lot of work so I'm getting started now.
Scared to start blog as don't know what to write.
Felt today my brain would explode - so much information to be absorbed and taken in - not good!!
Realised lots of ways to be assessed but all seemed a bit vague at first.
Could achieve lot of new things I've not tried before so I am looking forward to it.
Really happy with everyone in class. Work really well together and are very close.

Inspirations:

Read a lot of plays this week.Sarah Kane's Blasted had most impact - horrific and quite disgusting.
4:48 Sarah Kane's Psychosis had impact - deemed her suicide play as her last.
Been working in my community theatre for past 3 weeks. Good to know length people will go to volunteering. Felt great experience meeting different talented people and learning different skills.