On Tuesday I went to Camphill as usual. I'm now there all day so I'm better able to join in more with the students. They seem to like having me with them. Really enjoy our relationships. They are such a lovely group and to think so many of them have problems with communication, speech and probably the biggest one, confidence. There is an extra supporter who has been working on Camphill's care bank, which is a similar system for staff to do shifts whenever permanent staff go on leave. Also, a young girl who is doing a placement from university and she was given a tour of the theatre. She is doing a creative writing degree so she should be very helpful with the writing of the next project, based loosely (and I mean loosely!) soon 'Treasure Island'. During the morning the students did more work on the lines for the 'Stranger Danger: Three Little Pigs' play. The group was divided into two groups, some working in the theatre and the rest either downstairs in 'The Crypt,' or in the foyer area.
Jeremy, who has been videoing the Stranger Danger: Three Little Pigs' project, came in with DVDs and Memory Sticks on which the completed video had been put. These were handed out at tea break.
After lunch, which I had in the Camphill café, (a lovely atmosphere in there. Must be extremely popular because it gets quite busy at lunchtime.) we began working on developing the next project, which, as I've mentioned in an earlier blog post, is to be based on Treasure Island. We were split into two groups and sat around a table and each of us had to come up with a line for the narrator of the ply to speak, making it as imaginative as possible and building up the dialogue. Some really amazing ideas came out of this. A really brilliant way to workshop and devise a storyline. Almost like the traditional part game of Consequences, which I very much remember playing as a child. So where next with this new project? Keep coming back to my blog to find out!
(Wednesday) I've got rid of the old, broken plastic drawers from the fridge/freezer. I took them to the tidy-tip at Bleak Hall. That is one job done from my 'to-do' list. I am now waiting to hear from someone from church who is going to cut the grass (I refuse to refer to it as a 'lawn.') It's tough old grass which I can't cut myself. The electric hover mower wouldn't manage to cut it, it's not designed to cut such tough grass. The grass has got so long Alfie almost gets lost in it! He looks like a lion or a tiger in the grass in Africa or India or some such similar. It's also seeding, which means it it's not cut soon it will be virtually impossible to mow.
(Thursday) I was looking forward to my theatre trip to see 'Les Miserables.' My ticket had been booked for quite some while now. I really couldn't miss the chance to see it again. I saw the original London production at the Palace Theatre, probably only a couple of years after it transferred from the Barbican where it was staged in association with the Royal Shakespeare Company and directed by Trevor Nunn. I drove in to park near the XCape and walked through to the theatre and waited outside briefly because I got there at around 2 o'clock and the show didn't start until 2.30. I was making sure I wasn't late! I wasn't going to be. I waited by Door 5 on the first floor of the theatre. I had a seat in the Circle. Thank goodness I hadn't got a seat in the next layer of seats up. Carol and I had gone to see a production of Guys and Dolls and had seats in that area and it wasn't a good place to sit because you got a really awful view of the stage and it felt really cut off from what was going on on stage. You couldn't see everything. I found my seat, Row A, Seat 5. A good view of the stage. An excellent view of the stage. I love the buzz of a pre-show audience. The expectation of what's about to come. I've always had this since I was a child, probably from my first experience of 'live' theatre, being taken to see 'Peter Pan' by Sister Watson, a lady with whom my mother nursed before she was married. It was a regular production, at the Scala Theatre, it was on every year for years and years. I recall the flying. How was it achieved? I know, the actors were on wires, a sort of counterweight system, with pulleys and they wear a special harness under their costumes. Must be painful. Done by an outfit called Kirby's Flying Ballet. Can't imagine what it would be like. Peter, played traditionally by a girl. The scene on board Captain Hook's ship, the fight with Peter. Loud explosions of cannons. I was hooked on the whole thing. And having tea, on a tray, in the auditorium, during the interval. They don't do that any more. Probably against our old enemy, Health and Safety. Goodness, sitting with a tray of BOILING WATER! Not possible now. Anyway, I digress. I think it's definitely the excitement of waiting for the show to start. I know the pressures on the actors and stage management, because I've worked as an Assistant Stage Manager and Deputy Stage Manager, have sourced and set props, operated the sound desk, moved props and scenery and, most important of all, run the prompt corner, done 'The Book,' prompted when actors fluff their lines, and generally run plays from that position.
As you face the stage, before the show starts, there is a curtain. I'm not sure whether it's what they call a scrim, made of a material which is transparent and when it's lit from behind, a bit like a lace curtain, you can see what's beyond, the actors and the scenery. When the lights are off and the stage is in darkness, then it appears solid. It can be painted as any other stage cloth. It was this that you see at the beginning of the show, with the words 'Les Miserables' in a sort of hand-written style, and the name 'Victor Hugo' at the bottom (the author of the novel which the show is based on.)
The sets for this production are not by John Napier who did the original Barbican, RSC co-created production, which I recall had a revolving stage and the two sections which became the barricade came of from either side of the stage and became other locations. This production had large doors which opened and closed for various scenes and the wing-pieces had doors and windows in them on several levels and other scenes were achieved with sections of scenery which slid on and off and a sort of 'track'across the stage which allowed pieces of furniture to move and be set in position. There was much use of what I assume was digital projection, but I couldn't work out where the projectors wee for these sequences. Very clever use and achieved very quick scene changes. Much impressed by the sound engineering. It must be extremely difficult to balance the singer's on stage with the orchestra in the pit. You could hear almost all the words the actors/singers sang and then have each actor with those tiny microphones taped or otherwise attached to their faces or in their hair which you couldn't see, thankfully. I've seen shows where there is absolutely no attempt to hide these things. It just goes to show it must be done. And then they'd have to hide the radio transmitter unit under costumes and also the engineers would have to balance the singing voice with the orchestra. All extremely well done and not interfering with the enjoyment of the show.
Jeremy, who has been videoing the Stranger Danger: Three Little Pigs' project, came in with DVDs and Memory Sticks on which the completed video had been put. These were handed out at tea break.
After lunch, which I had in the Camphill café, (a lovely atmosphere in there. Must be extremely popular because it gets quite busy at lunchtime.) we began working on developing the next project, which, as I've mentioned in an earlier blog post, is to be based on Treasure Island. We were split into two groups and sat around a table and each of us had to come up with a line for the narrator of the ply to speak, making it as imaginative as possible and building up the dialogue. Some really amazing ideas came out of this. A really brilliant way to workshop and devise a storyline. Almost like the traditional part game of Consequences, which I very much remember playing as a child. So where next with this new project? Keep coming back to my blog to find out!
(Wednesday) I've got rid of the old, broken plastic drawers from the fridge/freezer. I took them to the tidy-tip at Bleak Hall. That is one job done from my 'to-do' list. I am now waiting to hear from someone from church who is going to cut the grass (I refuse to refer to it as a 'lawn.') It's tough old grass which I can't cut myself. The electric hover mower wouldn't manage to cut it, it's not designed to cut such tough grass. The grass has got so long Alfie almost gets lost in it! He looks like a lion or a tiger in the grass in Africa or India or some such similar. It's also seeding, which means it it's not cut soon it will be virtually impossible to mow.
(Thursday) I was looking forward to my theatre trip to see 'Les Miserables.' My ticket had been booked for quite some while now. I really couldn't miss the chance to see it again. I saw the original London production at the Palace Theatre, probably only a couple of years after it transferred from the Barbican where it was staged in association with the Royal Shakespeare Company and directed by Trevor Nunn. I drove in to park near the XCape and walked through to the theatre and waited outside briefly because I got there at around 2 o'clock and the show didn't start until 2.30. I was making sure I wasn't late! I wasn't going to be. I waited by Door 5 on the first floor of the theatre. I had a seat in the Circle. Thank goodness I hadn't got a seat in the next layer of seats up. Carol and I had gone to see a production of Guys and Dolls and had seats in that area and it wasn't a good place to sit because you got a really awful view of the stage and it felt really cut off from what was going on on stage. You couldn't see everything. I found my seat, Row A, Seat 5. A good view of the stage. An excellent view of the stage. I love the buzz of a pre-show audience. The expectation of what's about to come. I've always had this since I was a child, probably from my first experience of 'live' theatre, being taken to see 'Peter Pan' by Sister Watson, a lady with whom my mother nursed before she was married. It was a regular production, at the Scala Theatre, it was on every year for years and years. I recall the flying. How was it achieved? I know, the actors were on wires, a sort of counterweight system, with pulleys and they wear a special harness under their costumes. Must be painful. Done by an outfit called Kirby's Flying Ballet. Can't imagine what it would be like. Peter, played traditionally by a girl. The scene on board Captain Hook's ship, the fight with Peter. Loud explosions of cannons. I was hooked on the whole thing. And having tea, on a tray, in the auditorium, during the interval. They don't do that any more. Probably against our old enemy, Health and Safety. Goodness, sitting with a tray of BOILING WATER! Not possible now. Anyway, I digress. I think it's definitely the excitement of waiting for the show to start. I know the pressures on the actors and stage management, because I've worked as an Assistant Stage Manager and Deputy Stage Manager, have sourced and set props, operated the sound desk, moved props and scenery and, most important of all, run the prompt corner, done 'The Book,' prompted when actors fluff their lines, and generally run plays from that position.
As you face the stage, before the show starts, there is a curtain. I'm not sure whether it's what they call a scrim, made of a material which is transparent and when it's lit from behind, a bit like a lace curtain, you can see what's beyond, the actors and the scenery. When the lights are off and the stage is in darkness, then it appears solid. It can be painted as any other stage cloth. It was this that you see at the beginning of the show, with the words 'Les Miserables' in a sort of hand-written style, and the name 'Victor Hugo' at the bottom (the author of the novel which the show is based on.)
The sets for this production are not by John Napier who did the original Barbican, RSC co-created production, which I recall had a revolving stage and the two sections which became the barricade came of from either side of the stage and became other locations. This production had large doors which opened and closed for various scenes and the wing-pieces had doors and windows in them on several levels and other scenes were achieved with sections of scenery which slid on and off and a sort of 'track'across the stage which allowed pieces of furniture to move and be set in position. There was much use of what I assume was digital projection, but I couldn't work out where the projectors wee for these sequences. Very clever use and achieved very quick scene changes. Much impressed by the sound engineering. It must be extremely difficult to balance the singer's on stage with the orchestra in the pit. You could hear almost all the words the actors/singers sang and then have each actor with those tiny microphones taped or otherwise attached to their faces or in their hair which you couldn't see, thankfully. I've seen shows where there is absolutely no attempt to hide these things. It just goes to show it must be done. And then they'd have to hide the radio transmitter unit under costumes and also the engineers would have to balance the singing voice with the orchestra. All extremely well done and not interfering with the enjoyment of the show.
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