The Stage: Lily Allen lends her support to a theatre / cyberbullying project

Lily Allen has backed a new project that aims to use theatre to tackle cyber bullying.

The Cyberscene initiative supports young people who have been affected by cyber bullying through a series of theatre workshops in London.

It is linked to the world premiere of Emily Jenkins’ play Cookies, which explores the risks of online behaviour such as sexting, revenge porn and verbal abuse.

Cookies, directed by Anna Ledwich, will run at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London on October 29 at 3pm and 6.30pm.

Actors Ted Reilly, Maddy Hill and Viola Grosvenor join Allen as ambassadors to the Cyberscene project, which will see 120 students from four London colleges explore the risks young people face online.

The ambassadors will join in with the workshops and listen to the young people’s experiences, and offer advice.

Judi Dench, who is a patron of the Theatre Royal Haymarket’s Masterclass Trust, which has created Cyberscene, has also previously voiced her support for the project.

Of the 120 students, 25 will be selected to perform alongside a professional cast in Cookies.

Allen said: “As someone who’s well aware of the potentially distressing aspects of being online, I’m thrilled to be working with and supporting the Cyberscene project and such a vibrant, inspiring group of young people.

“I believe that allowing them to tell their stories and share them so widely through the play Cookies will equip us all with the tools to combat the adverse effects of cyber bullying head on.”

Reilly added: “Theatre has an unrivalled power to advocate change by creating communities of impassioned people ready to challenge your perceptions.”

Cyberscene has been created by the Theatre Royal Haymarket Masterclass Trust in partnership with the Pureland Foundation and children’s charity Kidscape.

The project has been delivered under the artistic guidance of theatre director Jonathan Church.

Time to leave by David Hare

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvaG98Y6qbc

Eleanor Shaw is in her 50s, well-spoken, Home Counties.

I don’t understand why it hasn’t worked.

I don’t understand why I don’t feel better.

Of course I didn’t believe them – nobody did – when they said people would take back control. We’re not that stupid. What, they’re going to come and ask me, are they, what to do? And they’re going to do what I suggest? Just because we left Europe?

I don’t think so.

We don’t even get the rubbish collected once a week. Before they took the service away, they consulted us, we all got a questionnaire through the door, they said: “How often do you want it collected?” We said: “Once a week.”

Now it’s fortnightly.

“Do you want your local hospital to close?” “No.” They closed it.

I’m not that stupid. I’m not an idiot.

When they told me I’d get my country back, I knew it wasn’t true.

But. Even so.

The woman at the hairdresser told me before the referendum: “It’s a funny thing, it’s those of us who are least affected that feel most strongly.” But she voted to leave. Well everyone did. Everyone I know anyway.

Winchester’s still Winchester, but we voted to leave.

For years you could live on a modest income, we did, and not feel ashamed.

The common market was all right when it was six countries with a northern culture – thrifty, hard-working – but it was bound to fail once the Mediterraneans flocked in.

27 countries sticking to the rules?

I don’t know two countries who play by the rules.

I don’t know one.

If you can, find a gardener who doesn’t want to be paid in cash, I can’t. And don’t even try to get a man up a ladder without stuffing his mouth with gold.

I don’t mind the BBC calling people who voted like me racist, because I know it isn’t true. I always think the people who’ve come are more English than we are. They have more values. They look after their families. And I won’t say a word against anyone who does that.

But somehow, having decided to leave, it doesn’t feel any different, does it?

I thought it would.

I thought we’d be less angry. But we’re not.

You see, it’s the anger, isn’t it? That’s what it’s about. It’s about the anger.

It used to be the young who were angry. Now – funny – it’s the old. It used to be Labour who wanted change. Now – funny – it’s the Conservatives.

But I did think it would feel better than this.

It doesn’t seem to have made anyone happy.

Mine was an army family. My father was killed in Northern Ireland, so it won’t break my heart to see the border go back up. Good fences make good neighbours.

They say we may lose Scotland. I say you can’t lose what you never had.

When I’m in the High Street, I think: “Well, we’ve been free for a year. But what’s changed?”

I look around. The people haven’t changed. I haven’t changed. And the anger’s still there.

And it’s made me wonder: “What’s the anger about?”

But the other day I was in the garden, tying in the roses and suddenly I understood. From nowhere. I realised. “Oh that’s why it hasn’t worked. That’s why we’re all so unhappy. We voted to leave Europe.

But that’s not what we wanted.

We wanted to leave England.

The Minister’s Black Veil

The end of term saw Willem Defoe come to Antwerp to perform in ‘The Minister’s Black Veil’, directed by Romeo Castellucci (see his video on the ‘Artaud video resources‘ page).

The piece as an adaptation and transposition of the Nathaniel Hawthorne short story, referred to as ‘dark romanticism’, and written in the early part of the nineteenth century. In the story, Parson Hooper covers his face from his parishioners by wearing a black veil and is from that moment on met with fear.

“I don’t like it,” muttered an old woman, as she hobbled into the meetinghouse. “He has changed himself into something awful, only by hiding his face.”

In the story, the veil acts as a metaphor for the mask that we wear to conceal the essence of our souls, and this point is made by Parson Hooper on his death bed when he is asked to remove his veil one last time

‘I look around me, and, lo! on every visage a Black Veil.’

There are obvious parallels between Hawthorne’s original purposes in writing about the superstition and suspicion of the New England parishioners faced with Hooper’s veil in the early nineteenth century, and current concerns with ‘the other’, whether that be discussions about the right of women to wear veils in France, fears expressed about immigrants, migration or any group perceived as presenting a threat to the perceived status quo. Castellucci’s choice of stimulus has allowed him to explore questions of identity that resonate equally well today as at the time Hawthorne was writing.

Dramatically, there are a few things to consider as an IB student. Firstly, this is a solo piece, similar to Part One (HL). The stimulus here is a short story, but the presentation style is different; the original omniscient narrator is replaced by direct address from the main character. The change in form from page to stage allows for  the exploration of theatrical conventions related to staging, space, light, movement and sound. The choice of performance space, Sint Michielskirk, affects the audience’s reception. Most interestingly is the choice of actor. Willem Defoe is a very important US stage actor due to his work with the Wooster Group, as well as a movie actor famous for his roles in films as diverse as Spiderman, Finding Nemo and Platoon. Casting a star allows Castellucci to position the audience much like Pastor Hooper’s original congregation, eager to see the face of the star, yet prevented from doing so by his self-imposed black veil. In this way, Castellucci shows how the form selected allows for a complete integration of his artistic intentions and chosen performance style – a very good lesson to take away before progressing further with your own Part One, Part Two or Part Four assessment tasks.

The Blind Poet

‘The world is not to blame, so why blame the world’

Here’s Jan Lauwers’ explanation of the concepts and process that Needcompany used in creating the play that we saw at deSingel in August:

THE BLIND POET is the latest play by Jan Lauwers, in close cooperation with the composer Maarten Seghers, which will premiere at the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in the spring 2015. Jan Lauwers starts out from the performers’ family trees and is writing a new story based on their various nationalities, cultures and languages. He goes back a thousand years to ponder the notion of identity in today’s multicultural Europe. Lauwers quotes the work of Abu al ‘ala al Ma’arri, a blind Arab poet who spanned the 10th and 11th centuries, and Wallada bint al Mustakfi, an Andalusian poet from the 11th century. Their work describes a time in which women held positions of power and atheism was commonplace, when Paris was just a small provincial town and Charlemagne was a famous illiterate. History is written by the victors. By men. How much has the history we know actually been determined by lies, chance encounters and events along the way? About strong women who throw stones and end up at the stake. About a crusader in armour that’s too small.

When the mind is uncertain,
It is overwhelmed by the world,
A weak man kissed by a whore.
When the mind has become self-assured,
Then the world is a respectable lady,
Who rejects her lovers’ caresses.

Abu al ‘ala al Ma’arri (c. 950)

“The poem above is written by the blind Syrian poet Abu al ‘ala al Ma’arri. The idea of ‘The Blind Poet’ arose when I was visiting the great mosque in Cordoba. In the middle of this unique building with its three hundred columns, the Catholic church knocked down a number of columns and stuck in a cathedral. This cathedral looks small and pretty ridiculous in the middle of the sophisticated ‘Moorish’ architecture. I stood there looking in astonishment at all this historical bungling.

Cordoba was the capital of that world. Between 300,000 and 1 million people lived there. Women held positions of power and translated Plato, and atheism was common. It had several libraries and more than 600,000 books and much more besides. By comparison, the largest city in the Christian world was Paris, with about 30,000 inhabitants. The largest Christian library had 60,000 books and Charlemagne was illiterate.

What does this actually mean? Why does history always lie and deceive us? History is written by the victors. By men. By the few who tell the masses what to do.

In 11th-century Cordoba women were men’s equals. Islamic women at least. The Christian women found them too bold, too dangerous.

This Cordoba story is only one of the many examples of how history comes back to us. ‘The Blind Poet’ journeys through history via the family tree of all Needcompany’s members. In this way we found that everyone had a link or similarity to everyone else. One of my forefathers was an armourer at the time of Godfrey of Bouillon and went on a crusade with him. They travelled through Germany, where Grace Ellen Barkey’s ancestor received them as a mayor.

With God I aim for honour and glory, and proudly go my own way
To my lover I offer my cheeks, and my lips I give to whoever wants them.

Wallada bint al Mustakfi (Cordoba, 1000 AD)

How much has the history we know actually been determined by lies, chance encounters and events along the way?

About strong women who throw stones and end up at the stake.

About a crusader in armour that’s too small. ”

-Jan Lauwers

14 Ways Being A Drama Kid Can Help You As An Adult

Don’t let anyone tell you it’s not worth doing!

Here’s a fantastic article from BuzzFeed. Read the original here 

posted on Feb. 23, 2016, at 10:00 p.m.  Maritsa Patrinos BuzzFeed Staff

1. It improves your public speaking skills.

Maritsa Patrinos / BuzzFeed

Forcing yourself to speak in front of people will help you get better at it! Volume, enunciation, pitch, inflection – they come in handy in a professional setting. And it can teach you how to recover when you’ve screwed up.

2. You learn the value of teamwork.

In school they try to teach this skill with group projects, but it isn’t nearly as effective. In theater, you learn to compromise and collaborate with many different kinds of people, or there’s no show. Theater people know — every individual is valuable, not just the stars.

3. It teaches you empathy.

Maritsa Patrinos / BuzzFeed

Studying a character in-depth over the months it takes to put on a show is a unique experience you don’t usually have the time to explore. When you immerse yourself in a story the way you do in theater, you walk away with a deeper understanding of people who can be very different from you.

4. You become a master of stress management.

If you can learn how to put on a great show when seemingly everything goes wrong, you’ll be able to handle any college all-nighter or insane work presentation. You’ll be way more collected because you already know the payoff is worth the stress.

5. You’ll gain confidence.

Maritsa Patrinos / BuzzFeed

The theater environment is unique in that it supports and encourages participants to be weird and try new things, even if you make a fool of yourself. Learning to shed your ego is a skill few people are willing to commit to in the real world. You will find more success when you are conditioned to embarrass yourself a little to find it.

6. But you’ll also learn some humility.

There often isn’t time for sugarcoating in theater. The spirit of theater is supportive, but you better believe you will get some honest, critical feedback that you must meet with an open mind. You’ll learn how to have your weaknesses pointed out to you and how to work on them without taking it personally.

7. It teaches you how to deal with rejection.

Maritsa Patrinos / BuzzFeed

Anyone who hasn’t gotten the part they wanted in a play knows the feeling of heartbreak. Being an adult is also full of ups and downs – you may not always get that dream job or apartment. But when you’ve learned how to bounce back, you already know that the next big thing is out there waiting for you.

8. You’ll know how to work on a deadline.

In school there are make-up tests and project extensions, but in theater the show must always go on, whether or not you’re ready. Being in a play teaches you (forces you, actually) to find creative ways of meeting your deadline and coming up with effective shortcuts in your work.

9. It is a surefire way of gaining reading skills.

Maritsa Patrinos / BuzzFeed

The great thing about theater is that one piece of text can be interpreted in infinite ways. You will find new ways to approach analysis because you get to act it out instead of just reading it at a desk. Not to mention, there’s nothing like “have this memorized by next week” that will force you to improve your reading skills fast.

10. You’ll gain a higher appreciation of the written (and spoken) word.

Theater has informed culture all over the world throughout history. Studying it exposes you to many great works of literature and ideas you may not otherwise encounter. Even if you don’t end up pursuing it for the rest of your life, there are few directions in life you can take that haven’t been influenced by the artform.

11. It makes you more charismatic.

Maritsa Patrinos / BuzzFeed

Rehearsing lines and conversational speech (and watching your peers do it) can benefit the way you socialize. But besides just acting, much of working in theater is about communication. So many people need to work together for such a massive project, that you’ll be forced to master those skills in order for it to work.

12. Your memorization skills will be on point.

It’s a lot more than just remembering words and lighting cues. The memorization tricks you teach yourself, and the way you learn to multitask on stage can inform the ways you study, work, and organize your mind later on in life.

13. It gets you in the habit of staying physically active.

Maritsa Patrinos / BuzzFeed

For a lot of kids who aren’t drawn to the sports scene, it can be hard to find a good outlet for physical activity. But whether it’s dance choreography, building sets, or changing scenery, theater is very physically demanding. The difference is that you’re having so much fun, you don’t notice how you’re staying in shape.

14. It teaches you some real-world professionalism.

For many kids, theater is their first exposure to behaving professionally. You have to make a good impression, show enthusiasm, work hard, compromise, keep your emotions in check, support your peers, and treat your superiors with respect. All skills you have to master if you want to be taken seriously in your professional life.

Welcome to the Jungle?

Good Chance Theatre https://twitter.com/kirstin_roo/status/701722974022475780

This week sees the French authorities in Calais deciding upon the fate of the southern area of the Jungle refugee camp that has sprung up in the last year and a half as a makeshift home for those trying to reach the UK. The creation and then destruction of the camp raises plenty of moral questions, but I just wanted to highlight the presence and work of Good Chance Theatre in the Jungle. The theatre has been widely reported in the UK and international media, and high profile visitors such as The Globe Theatre and Jude Law have helped to raise the profile of the theatre in the camp.

Is the creation of theatre in a refugee camp a justified response to the human suffering of those people that find themselves living such terrible conditions?

The Globe Theatre went to Calais to perform ‘Hamlet’. In Act 3 Sc 2, Hamlet gives his advice to the players, saying that “the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was/ and is, to hold, as ’twere, the mirror up to nature…”( III,ii,19-20).

Good Chance aimed to create a safe and warm space for people to express themselves and their situations. This might seem insignificant in the face of the many complex problems faced by displaced people; however, holding a mirror up to the situation to reflect on both what is happening, and to whom, is perhaps the best way that we can prevent the situation endlessly repeating and replicating itself over and over.

I hope that the theatre survives at the Jungle. Article 14 of the UNDHR states that “everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.”, and theatre creates a space that allows those people seeking asylum to tell their stories.

 

Time for the lions to have their say?

image source

“The hunter will always tell the story until the lions can have their say.” An African proverb. Also, stimulus material for choreographer Akram Khan, whose show ‘Until the Lions’ opened recently in London to critical acclaim. Khan’s work is described as ‘an original reworking of the epic Mahabharata’ that focuses on female characters and their stories.

It seems strange that Akram Khan, currently presenting work on the London stage that redresses the under-representation of women, is being criticized for his views on women choreographers in dance. What’s going on?

A recent panel discussion hosted by Rambert, the UK’s oldest established dance company, raised concerns about the lack of opportunity for women choreographers. Akram Khan’s response, that the number of women choreographers given commissions should not be raised ‘for the sake of it’ has seen him criticized in the liberal press for failing to recognize how difficult it is for women to get a break in the dance industry. The fact that Khan favours a meritocratic approach to commissioning (over any ‘quota’ based system) has seen him receive support in the conservative press.

Discussion has reached a climax this week, with 400 artists signing an open letter to The Stage that asks Khan to be mindful of his privileged position as a leading practitioner.

This got me thinking about the gender imbalance in the theorists that are promoted for study in my own IB theatre course. It’s easy to find male theatre theorists, especially those from Western Europe, often white, whereas there are far fewer female theorists, designers, and directors. I’m conscious that, given that theatre classes are often full of young women, we should focus on creative women within the curriculum whenever we can. It’s not always easy to achieve this, however, and so perhaps I should worry less about the under-representation of women in my course material and focus on encouraging my students to investigate the reasons why women are under-represented instead.

PUSH festival 2016

Running from January 14 to 24, this is a reborn version of the former Library Theatre’s (Manchester) Re:Play Festival, featuring companies (according to the publicity) “who are making waves, asking questions and delivering explosive experiences”.

There’s plenty of inspiration here for anyone thinking about either their Solo Piece or Collaborative Project

Visit the website to find out more here

 

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