To Kill A Mockingbird doesn’t need elaborate sets to make it evocative (Picture: Johan Persson)

Director Timothy Sheader combines excellent staging with brilliant casting, minus an elaborate set, to great effect in To Kill A Mockingbird.

You don’t need elaborate sets to evoke highly specific locations. In Jon Bausor’s splendid design for Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning story, roughly drawn lines on the ground and a tree suffice to map out the rigidly defined world of six-year-old Scout and her older brother Jem as they struggle to get to grips with the incomprehensible adult codes of the 1930s Deep South.

Despite its grim subject matter – racial prejudice and a howling miscarriage of justice – this classic coming-of-age tale is a crowd-pleasing choice to kick off Regent’s Park’s new season. Timothy Sheader’s staging, which uses Christopher Sergel’s vintage script, sees the role of the narrator (Scout as an adult) divided between the cast, who take turns to read passages from dog-eared copies of the novel.

It’s a neat device – this is a story for and about everyone – but the individual arc of Scout’s developing consciousness is somewhat obscured as a result.

Robert Sean Leonard brings an unassuming rectitude to the part of lawyer Atticus Finch. Phil King’s folksy tunes add aural texture, while Sheader and Bausor combine to create a series of resonant stage pictures, not least when the maligned outsider Boo Radley is hauntingly framed behind a length of picket fence towards the end.

Until Jun 15, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. www.openairtheatre.com

There’s an historical theatre which is on the upper hill side of Auckland’s Queen Street known as the golden mile. The St James is adjacent across the street of another know theatre known as the Civic in the cornering of Queen Street and Wellesley street.  The St James, has been abandon for quite some decade years more, and in need of some serious restoration to its former glory in in the theatrical standing in New Zealand, it’s sisters in which is across the road is fortified with Civic, which was used in the scene of Peter Jacksons King Kong movie, where the Kong was held in spectacular, also adjacent the Aotea centre with several convention centres.

Given its derelict abandonment, there’s been a cause to restore the St James to its past.  In that past the St James have been given additions to cope with the progression of changes of the entertainment industry, those such additions modifications into a multiplex, then later another competition came along, another multiplex on the same street with circa 1980’s early 90’s Midcity, in with an experimental shopping experience, then later that experience translated to the now presently Westfield Malls to have larger multiplexes with more diverse different comfortable amenities.

My thoughts in rescuing the St James is to renovate the complex into a concept convention centre with theatre, circa 1940’s concept restaurant in which there used to be dance halls within that time era, in the same way how on the very top floor on the former Farmers building now an apartment hotel conversion on Hobson street, where there’s in its regal days has an encompassing view of Auckland’s central Harbour.  In that renovation rescuing, is to convert in complex into a student learning complex in between Auckland University also Auckland University of Technology, and other partners.

This is how I see it, the complex renovated as a teaching complex, the restaurant convention department is a teaching training tool to give the students an employment of experiences, also a platform to stand on to evolve, also in the same way has the theatre side where the students show there arts in performance, also later in the process those graduating students could come back in used those skills learn to produce there production in the same theatre, also it can be externally used for other productions other producing academia so it can gain extra revenue.

As the 1940’s concept restaurant, student in performing music this could be a place for them to practice their arts, instead of using recorded music, giving them a learning experience platform. In also the learning experience is using nearby AUT hospitably, cooking students to give them employment in running a restaurant also a convention centre.

As for the renovations externally, seeing it in encase in a glass open plan building, to allow more light inside in very much need, as in the past has been enclosed in tinted shaded glass showing it’s derelict abandonment,  building should be in white classics tones, in which mood lighting could be used to change nights mood.  As of other ways of bringing in crowds is the placement of large screen display of advertisement and news current affairs placement with speakers placed in Aotea Square, .  Like in those in New York’s time square, which draw in crowds for various events?    As for outside lighting the, there’s needs to be restoration of how the lighting was back then where there’s used to be blub light, in which gives back the glamour days life back to the St James, if you use Google earth in street view,, and you’ll see how derelict the building is its history in Auckland has been forgotten, it’s historic glamour is torn.

Like to know more about the St James Theatre and it’s cause on facebook save the St James..?

Oracle Theatre
Directed by Max Truax
Music Composed by Jonathan Guillen
Arranged by Nicholas Tonozzi

Brilliantly directed; wonderfully executed. The only “musical” that’s ever moved me beyond tapping a toe. Passionate. Immersive. Rare.

Profiles Theatre
Directed by Joe Jahraus

Very accessible, moving, honest theatre. Actors making simple, but effective human choices. Heartbreaking. Appropriately funny. Refreshing.

The University of Queensland

Geoffrey Rush Studio

21^st – 25^th May 2013

Reviewed by Meredith McLean

Sophie Treadwell’s critically-acclaimed Machinal premiered on Broadway in 1928 with Clark Gable.

Machinal, directed by Dr Sean Edgecomb, is a confronting production, which combines elements of carnival, 1920s freak sideshows and vaudeville. 

“The passion, talent, intelligence and drive that these students demonstrate in the performance, is quite simply, amazing,” Dr Edgecomb said. The strong research background of UQ’s drama area, encourages us to consider different acting theories for the play, namely Meyerhold’s theory of biomechanics (where actors use gestures and movements as a way of expressing emotion physically). 

The powerful drama is based loosely on the murder trial of Ruth Snyder and her lover, Judd Gray, who together murdered Snyder’s husband in the late 1920s. Snyder was found guilty of the crime and executed by electric chair. In Machinal, the lead character Helen, attempts to negotiate through a woman’s role during this era in history – confined and regimented to wife, mother, housekeeper, and sexual partner. She is a woman trapped in a dependant status, living a hellish life in a loveless marriage. Then, a man gives Helen a momentary glimpse of passion and her life is forever changed. 

Helen discovers how society confines her and how her husband unconsciously dominates her every decision. With a feeling of hopelessness, she commits an egregious crime, murdering her husband to free herself from the constraints of society. 

This heavy play is a powerful expressionistic drama about women’s forced financial dependency upon men during the 1920s and their trapped existence in a male-dominated, oppressive wasteland. 

The production team includes: Sean Edgecomb (Director), Heather Fairbairn (Dramaturgy), Alana Tierney (Chorographer) and current UQ drama students. 

I had no idea what to expect for Machinal. I knew it was expressionism, I knew it was a classic and all of this gave me a pang of my high school drama days. This however wasn’t a school orchestrated show. It was a step up, University of Queensland’s drama students would be putting on the show tonight.

I loved Les Mechaniques played by Alice England and Regan Lynch. Both loud, both confusing and devilish they were the glue between scenes.

Mr. J or Mr. Jones taken on by Kristan Santic matched the mechaniques loudness with creepiness. Each syllable, wrist flick and slicking back of the hair sent trembles down my spine.

There was one incident if there really can be an incident in a play about incidental murder. Early on in the first half the curtain was jerked just that touch too vigorously and one of the poles holding up the material was yanked from its secure holding. For a good fifteen minutes we watched the performers shut and close the curtain, all the while the audience were eyeballing the pole waiting for it to crash on one of these poor students heads.

Thankfully no drama students were harmed in this production.

The stage manager made a formal announcement that there would be a ten-minute interval while a technical error was rectified. Namely, the pole dangling just above her head.

I took this impromptu break as a chance to admire the foyer of the Geoffrey Rush drama student. I hadn’t set foot in that room since I’d defected from my arts degree at UQ and changed to QUT at the end of 2011 (QUT Represent!). They had transformed it into an eerie circus tent with streamers and mirrors everywhere. It’s a unique little studio after all. But before I had a chance to guess all the meanings of the eerie tarot cards dotted along the mirror it was time to be pulled back into the vaudeville nightmare.

Another note of appreciation is the choreography to this production. Whether it be the struggles between the lovers, the dance numbers from Les Mechaniques or the human-machine blocking and movement in the background you could tell these students had worked hard to nail each move.

Certainly on the obscure side, this dark retelling of Sophie Treadwell’s expressionist piece Machinal is certainly thrilling. These performers are no baby-faced kids fresh off the block – they’ve come ready and willing to terrify you. But only until tomorrow night so be quick and book for the final two performances.

Gazette photographer Dave Sidaway was there and got some candid shots of the new celebrities, at least one of whom was sleeping on the job. (see video below).

The dachshunds have some competition at the FTA. There’s a talented German shepherd winning applause  in Thomas Ostermeier’s rock’n roll adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, which kicked off the 2013 festival on Wednesday night. (The sold-out  Montreal run ends Friday. But the production will stop at Le Carrefour Festival in Quebec City on Monday, Feb. 27.)

Dachshund UN opens Friday (May 24) at 6 p.m. in the Place des Festivals outside Places des Arts, and will continue Saturday and Sunday at 3 p.m. Admission is free. 

The FTA continues until June 8.

Theatre 101

Don’t live for Theatre. I don’t trust people who say ” Oh I live for the Theatre” . If that’s all you wish to fill your life with, then you’re missing out on a lot of really cool stuff. Don’t misunderstand me, it’s one of the greatest and biggest parts of my existence, but the happiest I EVER became in my craft was the day I discovered it wasn’t my identity. Knowing that I would still be a wife, a mom, maybe an author, maybe a park ranger or a soccer coach made all of the creativity worth it. Artists have a tendency to put everything into one thing. That’s no way to live. So learn fast and learn quick…When you create, create big, when you do everything else, do that big too! So having had my say, I’ll be back tomorrow. Maybe with a story, maybe with advice, maybe to fuss, who knows? But I will be back…and until then, “There is magic in the theatre, and the theatre is magic, and truly blessed are those, who are able to share their talents with others.” Break a leg!

Senior Presentation is a ceremony where the graduating class is presented to the parents and student body. Students that are awarded notable awards are also given recognition. 

I come from a class that is equally gifted in athletics, leadership, academics, and fine arts, so many awards were given in those categories.

Then, there’s the highest category of award offered at my school: the Gold award. The Gold award recognizes several students across different subjects, such as Art, Science, Math, Social Studies, etc.  I honestly never thought I would be awarded such an honor. As the recipient of the Theatre Arts Gold Award for 2013, I can say I’ve come a very long way from my freshman year. Theatre has been my strong point as I went through high school, and being blessed with such an award is both flattering and humbling, in my opinion.

I’m very happy to join the Gold Party with some of my fellow Speech Club sisters who were also awarded Gold in different subjects, and even follow in the Golden Footsteps of those who came before me.

Graduation just got real.

You know how sometimes…okay, often…you can find yourself walking around wondering how you managed to be such a total screw up in amongst all these perfect specimens of togetherness? Well, I’m starting to figure something out; we’re all screw ups in one way or another and I’ve decided I rather like the title. So, I hereby proclaim that I am a total screw up!

Before anyone gets into me about being self deprecating again and how I really should stop it, let me explain what I mean. I am a screw up in that I constantly make mistakes. All the time, everyday. Spelling mistakes, clothing choice mistakes, hair mistakes, choice of words mistakes, work mistakes, personal mistakes, mistakes like stubbing your toe etc. It’s pretty clear that these ‘mistakes’ aren’t really a big deal at all and certainly don’t mean that I’m failing at life…except maybe the spelling mistakes, why can’t excel have auto spellcheck? I mean, really. But although they aren’t big mistakes, they are mistakes and if I make enough in a day I feel pretty silly, rather like a ‘screw up’. Surely other people out there are more vigilant in their lives, surely they do not make as many mistakes on such a regular basis. Surely…

…surely not. Everyone does make these mistakes all the time. Do you know how I know? Because in theatre, after 3-4 months of rehearsals, after we’ve been through the piece a gazillion times, it is so common for something to go wrong 8/10 times during a performance. The cardinal rule of shows is that you’re not allowed to talk backstage incase you, or someone near you, has a mic and it’s on. Well, in the last show I did someone did talk…and their mic was on…and we were recoding the show that night. I must admit that when the incident happened we were all a little stunned, but watching it back on the recording was fucking hilarious.

Another incident was in another show and I had to begin Act 2 with a phone in my pocket. One night I forgot to grab the phone before I went on stage…which meant that at the first chance I got I had to run off the stage, grab the phone and run back on. And I had to make sure that I did it in time for my phone cue; using my hand as a phone was not an option. The audience didn’t know it was a mistake, but everyone in the show did. There was a definite moment of ‘what the fuck is Emma doing?’. After 3 months of rehearsals one would have thought I’d have the phone thing down but no, I pretty much almost forgot it every night.

I use theatre as an example because of the fact that an extensive rehearsal process cannot guarantee that there will be no mistakes in the performance. As is so with life. You’d think after coming to work every day for years, or writing since we were 6 or walking since 2 would prevent things like spelling mistakes or falling over mistakes, but alas. We rehearse life every single day and we still get it wrong. We still talk to the wrong people, we still talk to the right people the wrong way and we still accidentally burn the toast.

Life is a big long journey full of mistakes. Sometimes, around these mistakes, you get things right and sometimes the mistakes don’t look all that bad once hindsight has set in, but mistakes cannot be avoided so we might as well get used to them. In all honesty, without my plethora of mistakes I wouldn’t have learnt…anything. I wouldn’t have progressed as a writer, a performer, a cheerleader, a working-adult-person-thing or as a person who has relationships. I’d have no idea what I wanted or who I wanted that with and I wouldn’t be able to say that after falling on my bum for months doing front hand springs, I can now land them standing up.

I am a screw up. I screw up all the time. And I hope I keep making spectacular mistakes to add to my mistake bag, because I don’t ever want to stop growing.

I am pretty proud to have mastered the toaster, though sometimes I still burn pasta. Don’t judge me.

I dreamed a dream…

I was part of Les Miserables… I was Enjolras.

I was singing ABC Cafe/Red & Black.

It was all a dream. Damn it!

I just realized that the theater will always be part of ME.

By Any Other Name

Cast your mind back to Shakespearean Verona, to an ancient feud of star crossed love, to a rivalry between Montagues and Capulets. However, reimagine this space to paint an image of Capulet ladies and Montague men. By Any Other Name is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet , faithful to the text with all, but a twist- a swapping of gender roles and sexuality. The Long Walk Theatre Company presents this reimagined tale of heartache and tragedy making it relevant to a contemporary society with social commentary and a socio-political agenda.

This production is an eclectic mix of innovation and experimentation. The stage space was used professionally, the lighting and costuming was apt and keenly thought-out. The tension weaved in the room was highly strung and the actors kept up the intensity with incredible passion over the course of the play. Choreographed fight scenes were amazing and in both dialogue and action, it seemed no path was barred. With some stand-out acting, I’d like to commend Sophia Scarpellino (Juliet), Monique Corkin (Nurse) and Annie Schofield (Mercutio) for their energy and enthusiasm in their acting.

By Any Other Name was alive with melodrama and energy. While the concept of a modern reimagining of an old tragedy is a wonderful concept, I feel the execution in the script could have been neater. Staying true to the complete original text, the performance slipped between full Shakespearean soliloquies, then borderlined monologue with contemporary language and references. This was effective to an extent- contemporary social commentary can’t be found in the original text, however there were smaller continuity points which, if edited, could have helped the audience to take the theatrical leap, so to speak. For example, referring to Paris as a male suitor, played by a female actress is an interesting comment in itself, however to then make reference to female sexuality is just a little confusing to keep up with for a long period. Conceptually, the play is wonderfully innovative and experimental and production-wise, the play was very professional, however small discrepancies in the writing unsatisfied.

Warning, explicit sexual references. By Any Other Name  plays at The Sidetrack Theatre in Marrickville from the 22nd of May until the 1st of June. For more information, visit http://www.sidetrack.com.au

I had a wardrobe malfunction that made the Janet Jackson fiasco seem rather lame.

My character was a prostitute. The director wanted cleavage and I had none. Thus, she had me fitted for a bra that was too small for me so it would push my boobs together.

The dress I wore was a cheap Halloween dress that was loaded with fabric paint to distress it. This made it rather heavy. My dress was too big in the bust and it wouldn’t stay put. The costumer’s solution was to pin the dress to my bra to prevent it sagging down.

Look closely and you can see that the dress is already sagging down in the bust.

Well, I had a scene where I had to crawl around on all fours on the floor.  As I crawled around crudely,  the bodice of my dress was sagging lower and lower.  This in turn put too much stress on the bra so it sank down too.

Thus, there I was on stage in an unflattering position with BOTH boobs exposed for the world to see.

It wasn’t exactly how I pictured my stage debut.

I did catch the gaze of a couple of men in the front row.  They seemed pretty transfixed and not at all offended by my display.  :)

I was rather embarrassed but it’s something that I now find funny. Since that happened I no longer worry about changing in front of people. If I have a quick costume change those clothes need to come off. There is no time for modesty.

In case you are curious no one complained and we got a very enthusiastic standing ovation!

Related articles

• Miranda Kerr Wardrobe Malfunction – What’s Hot and What’s Trending 22 May 2013 (whatshotwhatstrendingnow.com)
• Eva Longoria Not Wearing Underwear, Has Wardrobe Malfunction [PICS] (now100fm.cbslocal.com)

We were engaged in an “exit” exercise where the students had to use their line cards before they could exit and they could only exit the scene justifiably.  A great game to put your students (or yourself) to the test in to see if you can find reasonable cause to leave the scene.  We also played another single performer game I have dubbed “Take the Call”.  I give the students index cards upon which I’ve written either “Receive a call from…{descriptor}” or “Call {so-n-so} and tell them {circumstances/details}”.

In both situations I realized my students were falling in to one of the two categories.  Either they could not shut off the “I’m in the acting class” or they found a way to harmonize with their self-generated or endowed characters.

More thoughts on this later as the games evolve.

For those giving that advice: thank you for the compassion that I know is behind it. And I want you to understand that I know exactly what you’re trying to communicate (intellectually, if not viscerally, yet). The life-style that comes with being a theater maker is hard. It is painful. It will make me lose weight and sometimes self-worth. If I think I could be happy as a teacher, or investment banker, or dentist, I should go be happy and healthy doing that. I should only condemn myself to this torturous beast if it is a masochism born out of need. Your point is noted.

But your words have a dangerous side effect on those who listen to them. I’ve seen it at work on my peers and it’s almost worked on me before. I know you don’t mean this, and I know you would never encourage this, but that piece of advice is quietly telling young theater makers to be ashamed of the other things they want to do, the other things they’re interested in, the other things that they find beautiful. If they hear that advice at a young enough age—and they do—it might even lead them to slowly start killing their interests.

I might be wrong about this.  But when I first meet other young theater artists, I frequently ask them “if you weren’t doing acting (or stage-management, or directing, or writing, or media design, or dramaturgy) what would you be doing?” The question is usually met with silence. Then more silence. Then some version of “I don’t know.” So maybe your piece of advice did work, and you successfully weeded out the kids who knew they could be happy doing something else. But that would make the success rate of your advice shockingly high and, last time I checked, young people love nothing more than to defy the advice of their wiser elders. I think it’s much more likely that, over time, your advice has convinced many of my peers to deny, hide, or kill the other things they love. And suddenly we are at risk of having an artistic generation comprised of horribly boring people.

And horribly boring people probably make horribly boring theater that will horribly bore audiences into spending all their money and time on things like, for example, just an example, reality television (where, interestingly enough, the subject matters do more than just one thing). If we limit ourselves to one life, how can we appeal to thousands? If we reduce our interests, rather than expand them, how can we provoke interest in others? How can we create a theater of the imagination, if we have no imagination ourselves?

And here’s the thing that boggles my mind: if I trace my life back to the moment theater first caught my attention, it was because I wanted to do so many things, and theater gave me the opportunity to do them all. I bet it’s a pretty similar story for most of us, too. Theater allows us to be nurses, architects, lawyers, lovers, brothers, dentists, teachers, and kings. And that’s awesome. We started theater because we wanted to do a thousand things. A condition of our continuing to do it should not be our desire to do nothing else.

So, to those who give this advice, thank you for warning us. And please continue to warn us. Warn us that theater is hard. Warn us that we will go unhappy and hungry a lot. Remind us that most roads would be easier. And tell us that we should only do theater if we really, really, really, absolutely, totally want it. But please, for our sake, for your sake, and for the sake of theater, stop putting that advice in terms that runs the risk of making us feel bad for having other interests.

And for all of us who hear that advice, let’s keep listening to the intention of it. Let’s keep, especially early on, making sure that this is what we want to do most of all—even considering how hard it is. But let’s please ignore the part of the advice that says we can’t want to do anything else. Instead, let’s keep reminding ourselves of all the other things we want to do. We are citizens of an absolutely amazing world with thousands of amazing things to do in it. We should make lists—and update them frequently– of all the amazing things we want to do (but can’t do, because we still want to do theater that much more). Finally, we should infuse our art with those interests, with our interests in the world, with our countless and ever-expanding interests, and do our part in helping make theater imaginative.

Jim Waggoner in “Stella.”

What is Essence?

“Stubborn” can be an essence.  “Hard working” can be an essence.

Here’s a list a student made about me:

straight talking

Mid western

innocent

affable

sensitive

assertive

smart

open

upright

reliable

From these you can create a “I’m the guy/woman who” statement that teaches the entertainment world what you’re right for.

From my adjectives above:

“I’m the guy who makes sure that everything runs smoothly.”

“I’m the guy who the bonding company sends to make sure that the project gets completed on time and on budget.”

Or put it this way:

What is your “myth”?  Myth is one way that humans come to understand human behavior.

Or put it this way:

“What is the lesson that you teach when you walk in the door?”

What was the lesson that Brando taught when he walked into a room?

What was the lesson that Marilyn Monroe taught when she walked into a room?

lights dim to darkness

euphonious ritual

audience settles

conductor stands to silence

sound enraptured, comes alive

≈

nervous energy

painted faces, hair secured

many hooks and eyes

lines extend with points sharpened

transformation is complete

≈

boom lurks high above

wings wide, anticipating

a hovering arch

strong hands waiting for their cues

rope pulled, red velvet rises

≈

butterflies play hard

pulse and rhythm become one

enrobed in bright light

floating with grace and beauty

a curtsey completes the view

≈

≈

≈

a single light bulb

shines amidst the dark cavern

until tomorrow

∞

a post script:

there is nothing like being back stage

before,

during

and

after

a

performance.

This usually happens after about 3 months of not seeing each other. Having left my home province years ago I’m not always lucky enough to see her that often, but considering where my life has taken me, I think we’ve done pretty well. She may in fact admit sometimes she’s happy I’ve lived away (sometimes) because it’s given us a lifetime of adventures together; bathing elephants in rivers in Nepal, paparazzi-ing the King and Queen of Sweden in Lapland, and spending the evening with our very own hyena-turned-bodyguard in South Africa, to name a few.

Mom and I at Pablo Neruda’s house in Santiago, Chile, circa 2010.

By the time Mother’s Day came along this year I was well into my need-to-see-mom stage and she hadn’t been for a visit in a while so we decided on a mini-break here in Toronto. When I asked her what she wanted to do on Mother’s Day, “oh, whatever” was the answer – seasoned travellers know that this is often the best way to find adventure.

So off we were on an unscripted urban adventure of sorts. By the end of the day we discovered there was actually an unexpected theme that came about, it was a day of things that almost-happened. We almost went to the Book of Mormon musical, then we almost went to the Leafs game (and I guess the Leafs almost went to the 2nd round of the play-offs) and finally – we did go to a movie – but fittingly, a movie about a love story that almost happened (The Great Gatsby).

After a free community yoga class we headed off to line up for “lottery” tickets to the Book of Mormon musical – now did anyone know about this “lottery” thing? You show up 2 hours before shows (even sold-out ones), stand in line, your name goes in a draw and they pick names out of a basket – seriously, a golden basket- and 24 last minute tickets are released, at 25$ each! (This is for Prince of Wales Theatre in Toronto, you’d have to check out the details for other theatres, but apparently it’s a thing) And although we didn’t end up getting tickets, the whole thing – from chatting to people in line, the anticipation, everyone cheering for the lucky winners – was such an unexpected community moment in downtown Toronto– it was worth it just for that. As an aside there were some actual Mormons giving away the actual Book of Mormon outside the theatre – that beats the standard knocking-on-doors requirements any day!

Mom waiting for the Lottery.

Then we made our way through the thousands of excited Torontonians decked out in Blue & White for the Leafs play-off game against the Bruins. It was hours before the actual game but the streets outside the arena were already packed with people a-buzz with anticipation. As an aside, they did win that night but went on to lose the following day. I had never seen Torontonians so excited for anything and when they lost I was weirdly more sad for the people of the city than for the team.

Mom before the big game.

Fans outside the ACC, hours before the game.

As our afternoon at the musical was a bust we decided on an afternoon at the movies: Gatsby. What Gatsby? The Great Gatsby, of course. Or at least the Hollywood, Dicaprio, Jay-zed version of the Fitzgerald classic.

Now I have to admit I have never read Gatsby. As a rebellious teenager I was determined to avoid anything I deemed too mainstream. I avoided all trends unless I started them (or believed myself to have started them) and this included well-established trends like “the classics”. As an adult slowly dipping into them I now understand why the classics are in fact, classic. I find myself reading certain lines over and over again thinking, what an enlightened thought, I wish I had of read that in high school!

This was my experience again while watching Gatsby. Now I know it’s chic to talk about the book for its depiction of life in the Roaring 20s, how it’s an example of the American Dream, or the infinite optimism of Gatsby himself, but what really hit me was Fitzgerald’s famous last line:

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

Going into the theatre that day I had no idea this was a theme of this story and I never thought this classic novel would be so relevant to me today. This idea of moving forward but at the same time being pulled back by the past. Now I don’t know how experts in literature deal with this theme in Gatsby but I don’t really care – it got me thinking – and that alone is enough to get me reading the classics.

This thought of moving forward in life but being pulled back by the past is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. For me it also ties into the idea that everything is circular, that you might find the path that best suits you in life not only from being open to new things, but also by revisiting your past. The further I move along in this journey of following my passion in life; the more things from my past become important again, the more I realize the things that brought me joy as a young person are the things that bring me the most joy now, and more things from my past seem to keep popping up unexpectedly in my present.

And although all of it, from the sports I’ve started practicing again to the languages I’ve started speaking again to the travelling I’ve gone back to after years spent at home – as much as they have all enriched my life so very much in recent years…with them they have brought the frightening conclusion that I just might have had it all figured out as a young person. I just didn’t believe it could be true.

Wait, isn’t there a book about this? Yes, I think it’s called All I need to know I learned in Kindergarten. Never read it. Must have been a classic.

Giants Causeway Collage

After sitting here in the library for more than an hour trying to write about my travels through Ireland and the UK, I have come to the conclusion that no matter what I create, it simply won’t encompass the joy I had while backpacking alone through Dublin, Galway, Belfast, Edinburgh, Newcastle, and London. I’m trying to write a story with a beginning middle and end that embodies everything I did, but I continue to churn out the same old monotonous crap that becomes tedious to write and uneventful to read. With that being said, in short, the major attractions I visited in chronological order were: The Guinness Factory, Phoenix Park, Aran Islands, Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge, Giant’s Causeway, Black Taxi Tour, Holyrood Park, Angel of The North, London Tower, Churchill’s War Room, The British Museum, The London Eye, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Shakespeare city walk, and The Harry Potter Studio. Out of everything I cited above, if I had to pick my top three it would be the Black Taxi Tour in Belfast, Churchill War Room, and The London Tower. I will refrain from going into any detail about these places because specific information is available online. I will say though that I highly recommend googling the Protestant and Catholic conflict in Northern Ireland if you don’t know about because Belfast was one of my favorite cities. I will briefly discuss this later as one of the plays I saw was based off this war.

Belfast Wall

Lets get to the good stuff. One of the Perks about traveling on your own is that you don’t have to please anyone, but yourself. The only quarrels you have are internally. There is no need to compromise and in the end you’re holding the reins and making the decisions. It’s a liberating feeling, especially when you’re abroad and somewhat out of your comfort zone. Don’t get me wrong, I loved every moment traveling with a group of friends, but they’re your security and you always can rely on them. It’s a doubled edged sword and fortunately, I was able to experience both. I met so many different people while on my own because I was forced to talk to whomever was in my hostel, the bar, etc. That was the best part about traveling solo. In the rest of this post, I will talk about the plays I saw and my audition for the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University.

Abbey Theatre in Dublin: Drum Belly, By Richard Dormer

The Abbey Theatre is Irelands national theatre. It first opened its doors in 1904 and was founded by W.B Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory. The Playwright Richard Dormer trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. This was perhaps my second favorite play. At first it was strange watching a play in Ireland about the gangsters in New York, but quickly became captured by entire production. The soundtrack was phenomenal featuring The Stooges, which brought you back to the time when man first landed on the moon in 1969. I have posted a link to the soundtrack and a review below.

Drum Belly Soundtrack Drum Belly Review

Lyric Theatre In Belfast: Love, Billy, by Graham Reid

The strife between Catholics Nationalists and Protestants Unionist dates to the late 1960s to 1998, but sporadic violence still exists. To simply put it, Unionists and Loyalists generally want Northern Ireland to remain within the United Kingdom while Irish Nationalists and Republicans want a United Ireland free of UK rule. During the Black Taxi tour a Catholic man who lived through the war drove us around to various sites and gave his opinion on the matter. Of course he was biased and it was hard not to agree with him after hearing his personal stories and especially knowing history of past British colonization. The story is about a man who disappears from Belfast and returns home to his family after 25 years without any communication.

Love, Billy Review

Newcastle University Theatre Society

This was by far one the cooler performances I went to because the plays were written by students, preformed by students, and directed by students. They were preformed in a cozy black box theatre with very few props, basic lighting and sound. I was really impressed and I left the theatre feeling motivated.

NUTS Theatre

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London: The Tempest, by William Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre

The First Globe was built in 1599 and burnt down in 1613. A Year after a second Globe was constructed, but was torn down in 1942. Recently, A modern reconstruction of the Globe, named “Shakespeare’s Globe “, opened in 1997. This was by far the best play I saw in Europe. It was one of those special shows where you just knew that it was a bomb performance by observing the satisfaction on each actor’s face during the applause. They had so much fun and kept the audience engaged by interacting with them during the show. I was in the pit, about three rows back, and you couldn’t have asked for better weather. I have heard and seen movies featuring The Globe, but it was surreal being there. I felt as if I was back in the 1600s watching a show.

The Tempest Review

Trafalgar Studios in London: The Hothouse, by Harold Pinter

When I saw a Pinter production was being shown in London, I immediately told myself I had to go. His plays call for British accents and what better place to hear genuine accents then London. Harry Melling, who plays Harry Potter’s spoiled bully cousin Dudley Durstley, was in the Cast, which was good for a laugh, and he was quite good. The hothouse is a dark exploration of Kafkaesque incarceration and torture during a 1982 interview. The play is set in some mysteriously undefined institution referred to as a sanatorium and the patients are all administered numbers by which they are called by.

The Hothouse Review

St. Martin’s Theatre: The Mousetrap, by Agatha Christie

The Mousetrap was first presented on the November 25^th 1952 at the Ambassadors Theatre and later moved to St. Martin’s Theatre in 1974. It is the longest running play running for more than 60 years. This is another play that you know about and therefore I had to see it. I’m officially apart of the Mousetrap initiative and am not allowed to reveal the mousetrap secret.

Mousetrap Review

Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University

Last Monday, I had an audition with the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University in NYC. The three-year MFA program combines student directors, playwrights, and actors and teaches them the Stanislavski System and The Method. There are two main reasons I applied for this school; one, being that they’re the best at what they do, which is teaching the Stanislavski Method and secondly, directors, playwrights, and actors are able to work together. It would be a fantastic opportunity, but if I don’t get in then I move on to Plan B and keep working. As for the audition, I thought it went well given the circumstances. My scene partner and I had two hours to rehearse and I was a bit rusty after being abroad for five months. I was so amped up during the monologue that I forgot to slow down and I missed the moments where I could have paused and taken my time. I can’t beat myself up over it because at the end of the day I learned something and I know my faith will guide me in the right direction. I hear back next week and the odds aren’t in my favor, but I commemorate myself for going for something I want. It’s funny how life works, two years ago I was foolishly considering dropping out of school, and now I have done a complete 180 and I’m applying for my masters.

I go back to Blacksburg this summer to finish my marketing degree and to work on my video that documents our travels in Kenya. My last summer in Blacksburg… hard to believe, but I’m smirking now because this is just the beginning.

A Few Goals for the Summer:

• Improve my golf game
• Get into the bowling 250 club. My high is a 246.
• Do a sunrise hike
• Officially graduate
• Improve editing skills in Final Cut Pro
• Work on a new monologue
• Blog once a week
• Work on leg strength: Improve dead-lift and squat (form+weight)

She’s still not convinced but this really got me thinking about theatre-goers in the main. How many people share this view? I need to find out… time for a new survey me thinks. But going back to my initial thoughts, I can literally bring my own world to the stage if I choose to, but would a massive budget make this any easier?  Scenography can be defined as the ‘making AND breaking of the performance space’, so perhaps I need to focus not so much on the making, but the breaking.

Since going to Light Show at Southbank Centre, I’ve become obsessed with using light in inventive ways. I’m engaging in all sorts of conversations with the LX guys at the Crescent, and I’ve grilled poor Keith (head of design & my adopted Dad) to death about his use of light over the past thirty years! These impromptu discussions often throw up some really great leads… I’m usually scrambling around in my backpack trying to locate my digital recorder in a hurry, for fear of missing something. Keith and I are yet to sit down and have a formal interviewy-type-thingy, because our annual musical opens on Saturday and things have been pretty hectic. However, he did recall creating a massive wooden, waffle-like structure, to which he attached wires so that it could be flown from the grid above the stage. Its positioning was manipulated throughout the show, thus casting wonderful light and shadow onto the stage below. How amazing! Simple but effective, I thought. He’s going to bring me some photographs (if he can place them) and I will definitely post them at a later date.

So, the ideas are forming in my head, slowly, and installation art has been a very good source of inspiration too. This particular installation titled Unwoven Light by Soo Sunny Park, sadly across the pond in Texas, consists of a shimmering chain-link fence embedded with translucent sections of Plexiglas. The suspended waveforms capture and reflect nearly every light source in the gallery creating a fractalized rainbow of color that changes quality depending on the time of day. Of the work Park says, “We don’t notice light when looking so much as we notice the things light allows us to see. Unwoven Light captures light and causes it to reveal itself, through colorful reflections and refractions on the installation’s surfaces and on the gallery floor and walls.” How fantastic!

Then I stumbled upon Mobile Mirrors: Manequins Covered in Mirror Shards by Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen. She states: “The mirror surfaces of the mannequins turn our gaze back onto ourselves, forcing us to become aware of our own bodies and consumption habits. This way revealed, we can see ourselves as part of a much larger system, as complex and chaotic as ever the sculptures’ reflections on the walls.”

This is truly materialisation of the imagination, the art of space in action, the visual intersection of the ordinary, with the imaginative! This suggestion of space might well transform in the head of the spectator to anything possible. So now my brain is frying… and I need to quell the flames.

Once ‘A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum’ opens this weekend and the dust settles (literally), I’ll be able to interrogate the rest of the people on my list before getting down to some serious designing business. I’ve no idea which productions will be pushed my way this season but I’ll make this idea fit somewhere along the line, dammit!

Until next time.

Can you do that with your math test?