Lesson Four

We watched the locker choreography today, it was very effective. The banging represented a heart beat and the way they all moved in time was interesting to watch. I think by making the piece promenade it is experimental, as it takes the audience on Prufock's journey. The waltz is still a work in progress! It will be fine, hopefully but at the moment we are all banging into each other a bit too much. Today we tried out some speed dating. This consisted of half the boys sitting at desks and half the girls sitting at desks, and the other half of us sitting opposite one of the opposite sex. The audience will be split into males and females and hopefully the room will be split in half via curtain. The audience member asks questions and the student will sit their silently, looking like they want to say something but can't. This is effective as an experimental performance as it stylisticly isolates the audience, and thus immersing them. It suppresses them in a way where they won't know what to do.

Our Own Experimental Experiences

The first piece I saw was Phoebe's group. They managed to immerse us in the piece immediately by coming out of the room and telling us there was no space at the shelter and we had to leave. This straight away gave us the message that we were homeless people and put us in role. They then rather aggressively pushed us into the room and yelled at us and this was immersive because it really made us believe we were homeless and made us feel bad. They shined torches in our eyes and spread litter around the room which set the scene. One thing I think could have been done without was the music. I think it wasn't entirely necessary and detracted ever so slightly from what was happening.

The second piece I saw was Gus' group, and there's was really exciting, again they immersed us straight away with Gus coming out with a moustache drawn on telling us what the plan was. We were then sent into the space, where the Great Escape theme song was playing. The room was pitch black and there was a strobe light which made the atmosphere Quite intense. Then we went behind the curtain, making it very claustraphobic, adding to the idea of us going through a tunnel. Catherine was shouting at us to get down, which made it feel intense and nerve-wracking. When we crawled on the floor they had laid down wet leaves, which was very uncomfortable but felt very real. I found this effective, one comment said was that the music choice may be too comical, and it may have been even better with something a bit more suitable to the mood.

The last piece I saw was the Asylum piece. This was incredible but absolutely terrifying. I should mention that I am terrified of the dark, and scary things and sudden moments, and everything really! They used space very effectively by huddling us all at one end of the blacked out room. And using a single torch light to illuminate the three people sat at the far end of the room. This made it feel larger than it was, and it was a scary amount of space, especially when they began to disappear as you didn't know where they went. Unfortunately I couldn't tell you about the rest of the performance because I had to leave the room!

We performed ours last. The idea behind ours was that the audience were campers on a scouts trip. We set it up to be immersive by having James and Asa go outside and tell them to get into a line, put on the blindfolds and follow the leader. The performance consisted of the boys telling a spooky story and us girls getting close to the audience, touching them, blowing in their ears etc. The blindfolds worked well as they forced the audience to rely on their other senses, i.e. smell, sound, touch. We put leaves on their chairs so they would feel like they were sat in the woods. It was successful in making the audience feel afraid, however, the story was completely lost because of the screams, I think we built up the climax too early, we should have told the story then done stuff to the audience. That way we could have engaged their imaginations better.

Lesson Three

In today's lesson we split off into groups and worked in different areas. One group will be behind the glass in the corridor trying to tell the audience something but there will be a physical barrier preventing them from hearing. This fits the poem as it is about trying to say how you feel but not being able to. It represents the internal silencing. Another group experimented with the lockers and using it for sound and it was a bit site specific, as the locker piece could be interpreted as writing a love letter at school. The rest of us learnt how to waltz, as we are going to research dance cards, which reflects summoning the courage to ask someone who catches your eye to dance. My partner is Gavin and at this stage we're pretty awful. Much practice is needed!!!

Challenge - Results

Here's me sleeping at the wrong end of the bed! It was quite weird, it felt very out of routine, but by the end of the week I naturally went to that end of the bed to sleep. This showed me that it can be quite easy to adjust little things in our lives like that. I even made my boyfriend sleep at the wrong end of the bed too! He wasn't impressed. When you wake up in the morning it feels bizarrely refreshing, however.

I think everyone managed fairly well and succeeded in doing something differently. I think the purpose of the task is to see how well we adjusted to altering the way we view things, just like sometimes when performing certain pieces we have to change the way we see the world ever so slightly.

The Architects

We went to see Shunt's new performance, The Architects the other night at the biscuit factory in Bermondsey. It was quite good, it effected me in a big way; I was crying before the show even started!
The maze was very immersive and eerie.The bizarre, random objects were quite unsettling, for example the chair on the ceiling, the phone and the painting with the face scratched off held you in suspense, making you feel something really quite scary was going to happen. When we finally got into this big room that looked like a ship, I felt so full of suspense, that I just started crying. I was terrified.The performance commenced and it was weird, funny, scary and unsettling. They used lighting to keep the suspense and show the passing of time, it also helped for comedic affect. They also used sound effects and there was a live band which added a lot to the experience. They also used projection to show a video of four weird people. It was really quite odd. I began to relax but instantly became afraid towards the end when they separated us from the men. The use of lighting was incredible here as they made me feel like I was in a very enclosed space, but when the lights came up on the warehouse the vastness was astonishing. The rope work was incredible and interesting. The ending just wasn't Quite up to scratch. It was very sudden, and I felt like it was a bit of an anti-climax. I feel they could've made the boat section shorter in order to prolong the end as I wanted just that bit extra. It taught me that experimental theatre really can be anything, and the importance of affecting the audience in a certain way.

On My Own

Les Miserables is my favourite opera by far.
I saw the film the other day and this just reminded me of the work we did on Tuesday so much.
Epoinine is in love with a man called Marius who is in love with a girl called Cosette.
Marius has been her best friend for ages, but she could never voice her love, as he didn't feel it back.
'He never saw me there'

I just think this song is so relevant, and the lyrics which I'll post below. I thought I'd post it because it inspired me about our piece.

Lyrics

And now I'm all alone again nowhere to turn, no one to go to

without a home without a friend without a face to say hello to 

And now the night is near

Now I can make believe he's here

Sometimes I walk alone at night

When everybody else is sleeping

I think of him and then I'm happy

With the company I'm keeping

The city goes to bed

And I can live inside my head

On my own

Pretending he's beside me

All alone

I walk with him till morning

Without him

I feel his arms around me

And when I lose my way I close my eyes

And he has found me

In the rain the pavement shines like silver

All the lights are misty in the river

In the darkness, the trees are full of starlight

And all I see is him and me forever and forever 

And I know it's only in my mind

That I'm talking to myself and not to him

And although I know that he is blind

Still I say, there's a way for us 

I love him

But when the night is over

He is gone

The river's just a river

Without him

The world around me changes

The trees are bare and everywhere

The streets are full of strangers

I love him

But every day I'm learning

All my life

I've only been pretending

Without me

His world would go on turning

A world that's full of happiness

That I have never known

I love him

I love him

I love him

But only on my own

Verbal Piece

How does it feel when you can't say what you feel or want to say?

Hi...
Hello...
Hey!

So...
No.
You see...
Nah.
It's just...
Fuck.
I think...
I know.

What it is, is...
The thing is...
I feel...

Well I...
Erm I...
I...
I...
...
Nothing.

My Task.

We have all been set tasks this week that challenge the way we normally live.

Me: To sleep at the wrong end of the bed for a week

Nina - Compliment 5 people a day for a week

James: 15 minutes of exercise every day for a week

Alice: Can't wash her hair for 3 days

Gavin: Has to wear his clothes inside out for 2 days

Phoebe: No TV for a week

Emily: Must listen to 15 minutes of Radio 4 for 15 minutes every day for a week

Gus: Must go 3 days wearing unironed clothes

Crystal: Must leave her phone at home for 2 days

Catherine: Learn 7 greetings in 7 different languages

Laure: Learn the names and listen to the music of 5 different classical composers

Zach: Complete football ban

Jesse: No sugary snacks or drinks for a week

Alex: Meditate for 10 minutes everyday for a week

Harrison: Send a letter

Tian: Try a new food every day

Tiffany: Get up 20 minutes early every day for a week

Amaya: 2 days without make up

Milly: Take a picture with a different stranger everyday

Asa - no music for a week

Holly - Put her hand up for every question in every lesson

Jordan - Perform an interpretive dance for 30 seconds every lesson

Rachel - Must wear odd shoes for a week

Sarah Nivs - Listen to hardcore dubstep all week.

I think some are more challenging than others, I am interested to see how everyone fares and I will update next week. I don't think mine will be a problem, but I wonder if it'll have any affect, or even what it'll feel like.
It is an important exercise in understanding Grotowksi especially as he believed that the theatre had to be a lifestyle not just when they are rehearsing.

Song for Physical Theatre piece

LYRICS:

Is it getting better
Or do you feel the same
Will it make it easier on you now
You got someone to blame
You say...

One love
One life
When it's one need
In the night
One love
We get to share it
Leaves you baby if you
Don't care for it

Did I disappoint you
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without
Well it's...

Too late
Tonight
To drag the past out into the light
We're one, but we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other
One...

Have you come here for forgiveness
Have you come to raise the dead
Have you come here to play Jesus
To the lepers in your head

Did I ask too much
More than a lot
You gave me nothing
Now it's all I got
We're one
But we're not the same

Well we
Hurt each other
Then we do it again
You say
Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt

One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers
One life
But we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other

One...life

One





This song makes me very emotional just listening to it, the melody in itself is very slow and moving, Damien Rice has a very soulful, sorrowful sounding voice and the emotion he puts into the song makes me feel his pain myself. The lyrics are so emotive and beautiful, and link to the theme of the piece beautifully, as it is all about love and it feels like the song is something that we would all want to say to someone but never actually say it. I think it will bring a lot to the piece as just hearing it evokes a lot of emotion in all of us, so that on top of the movement and the thoughts behind it will bring out some true emotions. I'm pretty sure I'll cry!

Famous Figures

There are a number of famous figures 

Michelangelo

'In the room the women come and go,

talking of Michelangelo'

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western Art.

Michelangelo was considered the greatest living artist in his lifetime, and ever since then he has been held to be one of the greatest artists of all time. A number of his works in painting, sculpture, and architecture rank among the most famous in existence. His output in every field during his long life was prodigious; when the sheer volume of correspondence, sketches, and reminiscences that survive is also taken into account, he is the best-documented artist of the 16th century.

Lazarus

The 'Lazarus' Elliot referred to in the line: 

"I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all"

is Lazarus of Bethany, also known as Saint Lazarus or Lazarus of the Four Days. 

He is the subject of a prominent miracle attributed to Jesus in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus restores him to life four days after his death.

In the context of the Gospel of John, the narrative of the Raising of Lazarus forms the 'climactic sign'... Each of Jesus' seven signs illustrates some particular aspect of his divine authority, but this one exemplifies his power over the last and most irresistible enemy of humanity- death. For this reason it is given a prominent place in the gospel.

Prince Hamlet

'No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be'

Prince Hamlet is the title character and the protagonist of Shakespeare's Hamlet. He is the Prince of Denmark, nephew to the usurping Claudius and son of the previous King of Denmark, King Hamlet. Throughout the play he struggles with whether, and how, to avenge the murder of his father, and struggles with his own sanity along the way. By the end of the tragedy, Hamlet has caused the deaths of Polonius, Laertes, Claudius and his two childhood friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. He is also indirectly involved in the deaths of his love Ophelia (drowning) and of his mother Gertrude (poisoned by mistake). Hamlet himself is the final character to die in the play.

I believe these famous figures are mentioned significantly because they are all fantastically exciting, something Prufock constantly dreams about but will never achieve. His dreams of being fascinating are very twisted in the sense of Hamlet, who is insane and kills everyone! He wants to be someone he isn't, he wants to be talked about by the women like Michelangelo, he would love to have an important story he must tell like Lazurus, but he is too caught inside his own head to ever live these dreams. It's quite sad really!

Italian Translation

"S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse
A persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma penciocche gammai di questo fondo
Non torno viva alcun, s'i'odo il vero,
Senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo"

The excerpt is from Dante's Inferno and translated from Italian means:

"If I thought that my reply were given to anyone who might return to the world, this flame would stand forever still; but since never from this deep place has anyone returned alive, if what I hear is true, without fear of infamy I answer thee."

In the poem, Prufock is constantly doubting himself, he over analyses everything, trapping himself in his own personal hell. He is so obsessed with debating that he misses out on reality, therefore he can never truly escape his mind. At the end of the poem he has a metaphorical death,

'We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us and we drown.'

This relates to the ides of no-one returning alive from 'The Inferno'; Prufock's dream-like, entranced world is killed when someone interrupts him at the end of the poem.

Initial Response to the Poem

I find the poem very dark, creepy and yet hauntingly sad. I believe it is about a man who dreams his life away. He is caught within his head in this painful daydream, and he dreams of being intriguing and exciting and dangerous or mysterious. He is waiting for this moment for him to do something special, but the clock is ticking and he is getting older and he is too afraid, he doesn't have the courage or the daring. He feels painfully ordinary. He misses out on reality because he spends so much time in this torturous state of boredom but wanting to be extreme.

My favourite quote that demonstrates this is:

"Do I dare
 Disturb the universe?"

I just feel it's really haunting and sad in a way, because he feels like he must be a shadow, he can't be the light of the world. There are some very dark sides to the poem as well, where it shows some of his darker dreams, which I think links very well with Artaud's idea of our dark inner selves.

"There will be time, there will be time
 To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
 There will be time to murder and create,
 And time for all the works and days of hands
 That lift and drop a question on your plate"

The sudden thrown in idea of murder took me by surprise slightly, as I wasn't expecting it to get that intense and all of a sudden the poem seems quite sinister. The power of dreams and the affect on the mind seems quite haunting.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufock By T.S. Elliot

S'io credessi che mia risposta fosse
A persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma perciocche giammai di questo fondo
Non torno vivo alcun, s’i’odo il vero,
Senza tema d’infamia ti rispondo.

Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question. . .
Oh, do not ask, "What is it?"
Let us go and make our visit.

In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.

And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions
And for a hundred visions and revisions
Before the taking of a toast and tea.

In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.

And indeed there will be time
To wonder, "Do I dare?" and, "Do I dare?"
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair—
[They will say: "How his hair is growing thin!"]
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin—
[They will say: "But how his arms and legs are thin!"]
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.


For I have known them all already, known them all;
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?

And I have known the eyes already, known them all—
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?
And how should I presume?


And I have known the arms already, known them all—
Arms that are braceleted and white and bare
[But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!]
Is it perfume from a dress
That makes me so digress? 

Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.
And should I then presume?
And how should I begin?

. . . . .

Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets 

And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows? . . .
I should have been a pair of ragged claws 

Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.

. . . . .

And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!
Smoothed by long fingers,
Asleep . . . tired . . . or it malingers,
Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.
Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,
Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter,
I am no prophet–and here's no great matter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.

And would it have been worth it, after all, 

After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
Would it have been worth while,
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
To roll it toward some overwhelming question,
To say: "I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all"
If one, settling a pillow by her head,
Should say, "That is not what I meant at all.
That is not it, at all."

And would it have been worth it, after all,
Would it have been worth while,
After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,
After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor—
And this, and so much more?—
It is impossible to say just what I mean!
But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:
Would it have been worth while
If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,
And turning toward the window, should say:
"That is not it at all,
That is not what I meant, at all."

. . . . .

No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous—
Almost, at times, the Fool.

I grow old . . . I grow old . . . 

I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think they will sing to me.

I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.




We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

Lesson One