Tadashi Suzuki- King Lear

First thing's first. I need to start by saying I CANNOT BELIEVE WE WERE ABLE TO MEET TADASHI SUZUKI!!

Now to talk about the performance.

I took notes during the performance of things I noticed so I'm going to talk about each thing as I read through those notes.

The biggest thing I noticed I noticed about the production is that there was very movement. The play had a lot of stillness in it. When there was movement, it was very choreographed and quick(such as the exits). The timing between movements and scene transitions, EVERYTHING, was so incredibly precise. I also noticed that sometimes when character's weren't technically in the scene, they would be in the back of the stage with their backs facing the audience. This was very interesting to me. I was confused as to why they did this, but it certainly made me appreciate the pure discipline the performers have and the amount of training they must have received in order to be mentally and physically able to stay still for such a long time.

The play was both in Korean and Japanese. This was so incredibly interesting to watch. I found it hard to understand the Korean let along try to understand what was being said in Japanese but it was interesting to see how the actors managed the interactions between the character when constantly switching from language to language. In my opinion, the acting was very much focused on the voice and the language. Most of the time, the actors were facing directly to the audience when they spoke even if they would be speaking to other people on stage. Their voices were also very sharp and powerful (even the women). All this gave a sense of formality to the performance. The movements of the actors reminded me very much of the movement of the Japanese Bunraku puppets that I researched last year. They had a sense of robotiness whilst also maintaining the fluidity of human movement.

There were a few things that I noticed and symbolic but didn't quite understand. The father (King Lear?) was on stage for most of the time upstage centre in his wheelchair. He was alway still and was sometimes accompanied by a nurse who has been reading and would give a laugh from time to time during scenes. There must've some sort of significance of the nurse and the book that she was reading as the play ended with the image of the nurse being the only one on the stage, reading and gives of a cry.

Victor ou les enfants au pouvoir

Victor au les enfants au pouvoir was one of the stranger shows that I have seen. It reminded me a lot of The Odyssey that I watched last year in a way the the set was very unique, the performance style was very post modernistic and that I didn't understand what was going on most of the time. The show was written Roger Vitrac (a surrealist french playwright), directed by Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota and was performed by a french company called "Theatre de la ville". The play was created with a theatre of cruelty type of approach. There were many examples of theatre of cruelty apparent to me (although I am still trying to wrap my head around the whole concept of theatre of cruelty). There were many forms of violent in the play such as the use of power tools during the bedroom scene. The character of Victor is also a very violent person. He seems to be like he is trying to drown his friend at some point and also pulls out a gun.

The set was one of the elements of this production that I thought was absolutely incredible. It was constantly changing as the play progressed and it played a huge part in setting the tone for certain parts. The set comprised of three walls creating a small box in the centre of the stage. The walls reflected a red light and gave a sense of danger and isolation. Whenever victor was in the room, it helped the audience understand the size of victor and helped the audience understand the mental state of Victor. As the play went on, the walls parted and revealed the entire stage. The expanding size of the stage increased as the number of characters introduced to the story also increased. It created the feeling of as more and more people become incorporated in the story, the problems between them seem to expand and also become more and more complicated. The set also featured a pond type water feature at the front of the stage. The little pool reminded me of the sand pit that was featured in the Odyssey and when the daughter was found inside of the pool, it reminded me of Ophelia's death in Hamlet (connecting images and ideas!!woooo!!!). The set also evolved throughout the performance in the sence that it started by creating a sense of a "proper" family and household but as the story went on, there were certain features that were added to the set that gave the family a sense of gothicness and decomposition (the vine/root features from the ceiling and the chandeliers, open doors and mirror, ect.)

One of my favourite scenes was during the party where all the actors had a mask. Each mask had it's own personality but still had the element of neutral mask in it that gave a sense of similarity and blankness between all the masks/characters. The actors were constantly taking the masks off and putting them back on their foreheads, the back of their heads ect. The audience were able to see the masks at different angles and this also allowed to actors to do physical movements that would seem out of place if not for the audience's focus on the mask.

tbc.

BTB: Research on Victor ou les enfants au pouvoir

- Surrealism
- Roger Vitrac (author)
- Emmanual Demarcy-Mota (director)
- Theatre of the Absurd
- Heralded Eugène Ionesco - plays depict in a tangible way the solitude and insignificance of human existence.
- Plot - Victor's ninth birthday
- victor is mature for his name
- family does not know about "normal"
- Family is Feydeau style - Wiki: Georges Feydeau (pronounced: [ʒɔʁʒ fɛ.do], 8 December 1862 – 5 June 1921) was a French playwright of the era known as the Belle Époque. He is remembered for his many lively farces. He wrote over sixty plays and was a forerunner of absurdist theatre.
- upper middle class family
- deception everywhere
- First produced by Artaud in 1928





http://www.theatredelaville-paris.com/spectacle-victoretlesenfantsaupouvoiremmanueldemarcymota-346
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Feydeau
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A8ne_Ionesco

TPPP: 10 images

Taken by Jonathan Sheldrick

I've become more open and less self conscious of myself when trying new things and performing.

Taken by Joel Benson

I've gained a larger appreciation of all the work that goes into theatre productions as well as learning so much in acting and costumes and even in other production elements that weren't necessarily mine.

Screenshot taken from video recorded by Annie Riach (IBTA classmate)

Taken from http://www.dellarte.com/show.aspx?sid=9&id=10

Masked Theatre 

Physical Theatre

*find a photo from the Butoh workshop*

Masked and physical theatre has taught me the importance of body movement and how stories can be told without the need for the face and for words. It has made me more away of my body while performing and has also help me boost my confidence.

Taken from http://www.brechtsociety.org/

Brecht

Brecht, being one of the first practitioners I learnt about in detail, help me realise that theatre MAKES change and is important in our world. It's a commentary for everything happening at that time yet still stay relevant regardless of time.

Designed and Taken by me

Being a Costume designer for the Good Soul of Szechuan was one of most challenging thing I'd had to do this year in IBTA. I started off not knowing what to do at all but after a lot of trial and error my fellow costumers and I were able to pull together all the costumes (although I still regret the fact that I could've done a lot better).

*Can I use a photo of Sarah, Luke Treadaway and I to signify my learning from the shows I saw during my summer with my knowledge learnt from IBTA?*

Why Theatre?

The Last Days of Judas Iscariot was the first play that I was part of an encountered that I realised that theatre and plays were for a much bigger reason than just entertainment and just as an escape mechanism. It's a medium to get people to think about the world and their lives and the reason for their existence (as all art is). It made people think about their faith. It made me question faith and truly think about why I chose the beliefs that I have. I went in thinking "it's just another religious story" but after watching it and being part of it I realised the importance of the message it had and that the intentions of the play was to get the audience to think. I felt my first "scorched moment" during a rehearsal of this play. Even though it's not an uplifting story, the response that we got from the audience was one of the best responses I'd ever seen during my time at SFS and we had some members come for two, even three, night.

Symbol

Glass Sculpture by Christopher Ries

I chose my symbol for my growth to be this glass sculpture by artist Christopher Ries.

I chose this because of the effect that it has on light and the effect that light has on it (light being the world of theatre and the sculpture being me). This piece of art work is extremely beautiful but it wouldn't be so if it weren't for the light that passes through it and the effects that happen within the sculpture. The way the light reflect, refracts and splits into many colours changes as the positioning of the light and the sculpture changed. I feel like theatre has been the same way with me. It brings out the most in me. I find myself working the hardest when I'm doing something theatre related and that's what I find beautiful. Whenever I'm studying a new form of theatre it is reflect and refracted within me in a new way. When I'm being pushed or pushing myself into a new situation (whether it be taking on the main role in the IB play, taking part of the Butoh workshops or being left alone to come up with an idea for a performance all by myself) I find that I am pushed into doing new things, alter previous ideas that I had, having to accomodate other people and learning to work as a team, etc. In addition to theatre having all these effects on my internally and externally, I like to think that I'm also bringing something new to the world of theatre. Although, like the small amount of light that is shone outside of the sculpture, the amount that I have to offer to theatre is small, it is still something and that important because if there is one important thing that I have learnt during IBTA it is that theatre is collaboration. It is the merging of all the reflected and refracted lights of everybody involved.

Bill T. Jones: Still/Here quotes

- The feeling of loneliness, when you leave a person alone in the hospital for the night
- Who will be there to receive you
- You're giving people the opportunity to do what they want to do; To help.
- Loss of control - being afraid of loss of control
- *circle expands in each rotation, more and more people enter it
- Here is the place that I can stand and not be distracted by pain, not be in the future, in the past, i can be loving. I'm upright, I'm doing. You're on your two feet.

Gary Card and Castelbajac

Card: I think it’s about communication ― what are we trying to say, what are we trying to get people to feel? It is about considering every element of the design and making sure you are staying true to that message you hope your viewer will take away with them. 

http://jc-de-castelbajac.com/collections/AH_13.14/video_AH_13.14.html

http://www.clmus.com/set-design/gary-card

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20130829000606


(Lady gaga also got Robert Wilson to design her MTV VMA performance.

Me 2.0

My Progress

I think that I've become more open over the course of this year. I used to be very self conscious and shy when performing and also just in everyday situations. This past year has helped me become a better performer and not being afraid to let myself go. I wish I had been able to do this earlier so that my performance as Shente in Good Soul could've been better, but the role was one of the biggest influences in my become more confident in my abilities. The play also helped teach me the importance of the production team as a whole and being hard working in order to create something.

After The Good Soul of Schezuan, I was more willing to throw myself into different opportunities to create theatre. One of the biggest times in which I took more of a "behind the scenes" approach to theatre was in APAC as a personal assistant to one of the artists and help running errands in order to make the experience and the performance meaningful for all the APAC participants. 

After APAC I was asked to be part of an independent student production of Other Desert Cities. This play was the one that pushed me the most. There was no adult or teacher supervision in the production of this and took place during one of my busiest times of the year. We all had to help create the set, learn lines, help block and learn the blocking. All within two to three weeks. The show ended up going alright considering we had so little time and the cast members had very little experience in creating a production. If we had more time, this play could've been very successful.

Piece of the World

For my piece of the world, I've changed it from Auschwitz to Dartmoor, Plymouth. I used to live in Plymouth as a kid and used to spend all my time playing on dartmoor. My Grandparents and Aunt live in Plymouth, but once my Grandparents had passed, I hadn't gone to plymouth. This summer, I went to visit my aunt for the for time in about four years and visiting Dartmoor gave me a chance to really reflect on my life, on growing up, my future, my family, my passions and appreciated the world that we live in. It's one of the most beautiful places on earth and going back as (almost) and adult helped me develop a new perspective on everything that I was going through.

Piece of Art

Glass Sculptures by Christopher Ries

I came across these sculptures whilst browsing Reddit. I was blown away by these sculptures and their beauty. The purity of the sculptures and the way that each different sculpture reflects and refracts light is always changing and creates art itself by just using light.

Inspiration

My biggest inspiration (I hope he doesn't find this) it my older brother: David Sheldrick. He's one of the few people in my life that encourages me to do what I love and helps me achieve it. When he hears that I'm going through difficult times he send me songs to help get me through and is always asking for my opinion on his work (whether in shoots or in editing). One of the greatest things people can give anyone younger than them is to respect their opinion and help them grow; David gives this to me.

He first discovered photography when he was 19 and become extremely successful whilst growing and learning about photography and the same time. Not only does he give me the inspiration and strength to do what I love, but he's also an incredible artist. His eye for composition, colour, light and ability to work with other people is something that always surprises me and something that inspires me to develop my skills as a creator and as a person.

Summer 2013

This past summer, I had the incredible opportunity to go see seven amazing performances with my good friend Sarah. We saw Book of Mormon, Merrily We Roll Along, Jersey Boys, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightime, Once, Matilda and Passion Play. Each individual show was so special in its own way and are so different that it's almost impossible to single one out. 

Growing like a tree

I like to see myself as a tree (cheesy, i know). This past year has just been a huge time of growth for me. I've learnt and taken in so much from everybody around me (Teachers, Family and Friends) that I am not at all the same person that I was last year. My perspective of the world and of theatre and even myself has increased and changed so much in the past year. My perspective on everything is constantly growing like a tree. Getting older and getting bigger and being able to give more to the world.