the fact you got a son, don't make you a father

So were off..

Wednesdays rehearsal was really good, alot  was explored and discovered! With abit of improvisation you can bring any idea to life! 

East End Tales Rebirth

 we devised something stylised and poetic which could be the possible ending to our piece 'ellen' said!

But....

The bulk of the piece will cover realistic and naturalised theatre to convey thought provoking ideas on ''what it actually takes to be a parent!''

Interesting right?

I think its a serious question we need to ask society right now.

We'll be back in rehreasal today!  Should be good!

Good Talk

Yoco members gathered on Monday evening to participate in a skype rehearsal coming from America which was pretty interesting. ''Requires patients though.....''

Anyway reason why i'm stating this is because due to this meeting we had our first conversation about the story since sunday. And realised the Truth behind it which was pretty gruesome for our ears. '' batch of big babies!''

We then managed to create a structure to our story and how we want to approach it in rehearsals which is a blessing considering we only have a week to devise and haven't actually rehearsed yet. ''i'm not boasting..merely stating facts'' :-D

We met this Wednesday evening for the first time since sunday! Fingers crossed we get straight into it! And create some good theatre!

Signing out

Free at last. And little bit cold to boot.

I think, God willing, I think, the large part of my job is done.

 

I came home on Sunday night full of great ideas and producer Emma’s nachos (sorry Emma) and started telling my flatmate all about them (the ideas, not the nachos).

 

I was talking very quickly and very loudly. You know, that obnoxious way you do when you think you have a good idea. No? Just me then. And bless her proverbial cotton socks my flatmate humoured me, she heard me out for an hour or three before quietly, as if it wasn’t a big deal, asking me “That all sounds great Danny...so what’s the actual story you’re going to write then?”

 

I felt a little ill. It was probably just all those nachos.

 

I thought. I ummed and ahhed. I reread the news story. Then I read several other related stories. I checked the football scores. I tried making notes on some of the stories. I looked at the pictures in these stories. I rechecked the football scores to see if they’d changed in the last few minutes. I went to bed.

 

Then I didn’t leave the house for two days.

 

First day I stressed. I texted a few people. I ate a few sweeties. I drank tea. A lot of tea. And eventually, finally, I started scribbling. Without really knowing where it was going but just to get something down. But over time, tea and some considerable swearing at my computer, it somehow became something of a play-shaped thing. - Though Charlie pointed out, it was probably worthwhile going back to beginning bit and making that bit look like it was going somewhere all along.

 

So I did and I spent a second day indoors, going over everything, tightening dialogue, improving the structure, having panic attacks I was just making things worse, ignore the panic attacks, and drinking more tea. And then finally, I was done. It was done. It was late, I’d drunk far too much tea I was very tired, but it was, to a large extent, done.

 

The next day I went outside. To teach screaming 8 year old kids. And it snowed.

 

Ho hum.

well yo y'all ready for dis (pump it up prince)

tick tick tick boooooooom! and we are off. The past two days have been a cAFFeINED filled mess up with some old friends who I havent worked with for ages. it feels like being back at drama school which is wondourous. I dont feel as solo, jaded or as shorditched as I normally do,

I forgot how exciting it is to work with other people. I'm so used to writing songs, showing them to my mum, doing 9 poo's before a gig and then not having anyone to share the ordeal with after.

our first reheasal we deLved in to music, films,coma stories and a lot of impro.

laura seem to be on a good fantastical plane for me to firework off. mainly because of shared idols such as Dolly Parton, Lionall Richie, and Jarvis Cocker.  talking of Jarvis I am having a love affair with his new sunday show  http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/jarviscocker/   I like to pretend I'm eating my roast with him acopanied by a fragrant bottle of gamay noir.

Jessica, Valentine cards, what a Delicious idea. I'm up for it and I am sure the rest of me crew will be too. It will enable every one to feel like the love is all around, instead of feeling like love fools, we can create our own Love Shack, it's valentines day after all. Wouldn't it be great for the audience to love us for a reason and let the reason be love, and we all know love can build a bridge, but you cant hurry love.... buut you can haistily write a piece of theatre in respose to a news artical in a week! (I HOPE!) 

The end. diga down. good luck everyone. Brigitte Aphrodite xxxxx

UPDATE

More Biogs...

 

Laura Keefe
Laura is currently an Associate Director for nabokov on Is Everyone OK? by Joel Horwood. Her directing credits include: One Year On (Pleasance), Sports Day by Louise Monaghan (Miniaturist/Arcola Theatre),Smithereens by Sean Buckley and The Sugar Syndrome by Lucy Prebble (Workshop Performances,Young Vic). Assistant directing credits include: Doctor Faustus (Watford Palace Theatre, dir. George Perrin),Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare's Globe, dir. Bill Buckhurst), Roaring Trade (Paines Plough/Soho Theatre, dir. Roxana Silbert) and How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found (Southwark Playhouse, dir. Ellie Jones).

Hello Hello!
Day 1 (The Vomit)
Yesterday mainly comprised of me listening to Florence and the Machine over and over and writing and writing until my head exploded and submerged my computer screen (good times). Then, do you know what I did then? I wrote some more. When Florence was scratched and broken on the floor I thought - enough!
I stood back.
I looked at what I'd written.
There seemed to be 15 pages of a stream of consciousness in front of me. One character, uh oh, poor actor... I had a bit of a reread and I thought yes, it was a mess and probably completelyincomprehensible to anyone bar me BUT it was an interesting mess. There seemed to be 3 characters actually, all tangled together living and breathing off each other, paralysing one another. Then Nathan called and said sweet sweet Nathan like things. Then I slept a tossing turning sleep.
Day 2 (Untangling )
Today I got up and Nathan had left me a very helpful email. I read the notes. I read the script and remembered that the audience need to understand (at least a little) of what is going on.
Yes.
Then I sat.
I sat.
I'm still here.
It's been 12 hours.
My monologue is now mainly a duologue intercut with a monologue. The song which I SO SO badly wanted in, had to be cut due to time restraints. I am now down to 10 pages (actors you can thank me later) and would like to cut out one more. I think there's room for magic, I hope there's room for magic, isn't there always room for magic?

Sweet dreams and if I can't put the song in the script...
x

Tuesday

I was trying to think of interesting and witty titles for this blog. I think it says a lot about the week I am having that 'Tuesday' is all I can come up with.... so we are on draft 2 already and I think we are really getting there. Shireen is one of the fastest writers I have ever worked with and her response was prolific on day one. This vastly compares with my first ever experience of Present Tense when I got play the day before we did it. 

Shireen has come up with a brilliant framing device which I think wonderfully conveys the key theme of communication breakdown and breakthrough (vital to the original news story) in a very novel way. I also just had a long telephone conversation with a magician about the script.... mmmmm... that should get your mouths watering..... Can't write much now as am paralysed by something called 'casting fear' (he reaches for mobile phone at 11pm.....) I'll be back soon, with more about the actors and rehearsals....

Round and round the library bush....

Joe Murphy, my esteemed director and the artistic director of Nabokov, not Emma as I had so foolishly suggested on Sunday night, met yesterday morning in a rehearsal space at the Bush library to discuss conciousness, interactive theatre, speakers corner amoung other things. For me the stand out question of the day's work came from Joe; 'When the audience leave, go to scotland say or wherever, are they still our audience?'  This question has been rolling around my head and I have now decided that the answer is yes they are - and they will be our audience for ever more. With this in mind I thought it might be nice to give them all valentines cards - seeing as they are schleping into the cold to come and watch this brilliant piece of theatre. Perhaps we could all by ten valentines cards and leave them on the seats???

Anyway, back to our ideas - Joe was brilliantly suggesting that the audience in many ways were like the inert patient, unable ultimately to respond to come degree, wouldn't it be fun to get them to participate in some way? We discussed ways of doing this and also ways of creating something more structured, but still encouraging the audience to acknowledge thie traditionally passive role thier inertia if you like. I was interested in inventing a doctor, in imaging the single minded solitude of a scientist who dedicates time to discovering tiny movements in brain activity. Could this man have cut himself off from normal life and relationships, in someway be in a not dissimilar state of emotional isolation except just not comatosed. Endevoured to write a first draft around this theme. Know its too short and ending is a bit crap, waiting to hear back from my leader. Will probably have to scrap idea or just add more tomorrow. Got to put daughters in bath. Ciao ciao!

UPDATE

Present:Tense14 – Biographies

 

TEAM 1

 

Daniel Kanaber

Daniel studied at Manchester University and Mountivew Academy of Theatre Arts. His work’s been performed at The Camden Roundhouse, Theatre 503, The Soho Theatre, The Pleasance Islington, and The Union Theatre. He’s currently researching a play about war crimes with Joe Murphy.

 

Robin Beer

Robin trained at Lispa. He has a background in music and devised theatre. He has just finished working with Blind Summit on their production of "1984".

Katerina Damvoglou

Kat holds an MA in physical theatre from Royal Holloway and also trained at Lispa. She is an experienced singer and theatre maker and is presently working with Inkfish on their new show, "3 Good Wives".

 

Henry Maynard

Recent theatre includes: Charrington ‘1984’ (Blind Summit) MacDuff ‘Macbeth’ (TheFaction) Polixenies ‘A Winter’s Tale’ & Mistress Quickly ‘Elle and the Cavendish Cabaret’ (Theatre Delicatessen) Hippolytus in’Phaedra’ (Offstage) Tiresius in ‘The Burial at Thebes’ and Abanaza ‘Aladdin,’

New writing work encompasses; understudy as Henry in the west end production of ‘That Face’ Monologues by Kenneth Emson at Latitude Festival  ‘Whispering Happiness,’ ‘Word:Play 2’ and ‘A Hole in the Fence’ (Box Of Tricks) The Abortionist ‘Mikey The Pikey’ (Pleasance Edinburgh), Anton Checkhov ‘Poprygunya’ and ‘Before The Night Is Through’ (luckystuff prod.)

Film/TV experience includes; Lead in an independent film ‘life classes’ (Boogle Eyes) ‘The Calcium Kid’ (Working Title Films)‘French Film’ (Slingshot Productions)‘A Dying Breed’ (Wild Frontier productions) ‘The Mumper’ (Dead Mosquito) ‘come to grief’ (Silent Films) ‘Human Instinct’ (BBC)‘Willard’s Way’ (BBC Film Club)‘Moon People’ (ITV West).

Henry has assisted on Blind Summit collaborations ‘On Emotion’ (Soho Theatre)‘Shun Kin’ (complicité) ‘Angels’ (Akram Khan)

 

 

TEAM 3

 

Shireen Mula

Shireen started her first full-length play Outside Biology when on the Royal Court’s Young Writers Programme 2005. Soho Theatre then chose her to be part of their Core Group (an 8 month mentorship programme) and during this time she worked on a collaborative play with 8 writers as well as writing one of her own - Lighthouse Number 3 – which received a full reading at Soho Theatre. In October 2007 Shireen began working as a writer/performer on a year long UK-Malaysia cultural exchange project in collaboration with Soho Theatre and Cloud Break Theatre Company, Kuala Lumpur. This project culminated in From Here to Malaysia - a devised piece which was staged in both London and Kuala Lumpur. Shireen’s work has been performed in traditional venues including Hampstead Theatre and The Canal Café as well as in non-theatre spaces such as County Hall Gallery and site-specifically. Shireen’s site-specific works include the collaboration Train of Thought, which took place on the circle line of the London Underground and Clearing which was performed in a workshop at Oval House Theatre. Shireen recently completed the Royal Court’s Unheard Voices writing group as well as their Studio Group. Her play Same Same received a closed reading at the Royal Court Theatre in January. Shireen not only writes for adults but also for young people. She was recently commissioned to write Portsmouth, a short play for 6 – 11 year olds, by The Blue Elephant Theatre in Camberwell which was performed in December 2009. Shireen is currently under commission with Traveling Light Theatre Company to write a new play for 15-19 year olds and will be on attachment with the Royal Court Theatre this March.