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Bouffant 2.0 and Other Things 27/9

BIG EXCITING AND TIRING WEEK!! Went to see a few fringe shows. Some good, some not so good. Met new people. Had lots of laughs. Finally got my bouffant costume vaguely approved by John!! SUCCESS. So yes, a week well done.

- mime - We started off the week with learning how to throw a discus in mime class. (It’s all in the shifting of weight!!) I was talking to Dave S about how I’m super lost as to why we do mime and analysis and he said it was like the neutral mask of movement. We learn these formal, deconstructed ways of moving (like climbing a wall, taking hold of a pole, throwing a discus) with several steps to them, in order to discipline our bodies. So when we want to move in a way that’s not our own, we have a blank, neutral canvas to work from. (Discussions over sushi are the best discussions.) Some of us also learnt how to surf and skateboard. Which was bloody hard would not recommend hahaha.

- status - We also did some work on status. As bouffant is all about status, with the bouffant playing underneath their low status. My favourite game used three mats. One of them was high status, one low status, and the other could be anything. Two people stood on the mats and started a scene playing with their status. As soon as the scene started to die or one of them lost interest they would run to another mat and start something else. // It was easy to stop listening and just barge in with your own idea for the scene. Whereas the really interesting ones began quite abstract as the actors listened to each other, and then turned it into a scene. // Also what was interesting was the authenticity of the actors. When they were disingenuous and trying to be clever it turned into a cheap theatre sports vibe. But when the responses were genuine you became super interested in the scene. // John told me off for not carrying my energy over into the next scene, I would ‘recover’ in my transition. It was cool to see others carry over their energy and watch it morph into something else according to their status!!

- bouffant with Paul - A fellow called Paul taught our bouffant class on Tuesday. So refreshing to have a new voice and take on it!! He worked a lot on the eyes of bouffant. We would be rushing around the room and when he clapped we’d freeze and meet someone’s eye. We’d have to hold and contain that energy. He talked about the eyes being sparkling or like daggers. // This lead on to an exercise where we were only allowed to move one body part at a time, keeping all the electricity inside of us. When he clapped his hands BOOM we had to let it all out!!! In groups we did this and at one point he would ask us to find a word together. We had to keep our eyes on the audience and just gradually gradually find it. Most of them ended up being nonsense haha. // Another hilarious exercise was embodying white and then black. Splitting the class in half so we could all have a turn seeing, a group would slowly move forward performing one of the colours and when Paul clapped his hands they would swap to the other one. Then he asked them to say the word “Hamlet” and it was just the funniest thing. So faux-avant-garde. Loved having about 12 people all writhing and looking very serious as black while they whispered “Hamlet” in different ways.

- DEVISING - Devising is a little different this week. We’re performing Pericles as our bouffant, and we have two weeks to devise it!! With two showings in the first week and then a final one next Friday. Super cool having feedback along the way as it’s easy to swerve off in the completely wrong direction with bouffant. // John reworked our entrance quite a bit. I rip open the curtain saying “I’m going to write a play!” The rest of the group enter as my adoring fans as i sweep around the room saying what it’s going to be about (e.g. romance, oceans, heartbreak, metaphor!!) John pushed me to keep saying word after word after word and at one point I broke into a terrible metaphor about a rose on the tip of an iceberg which he enjoyed and wanted more of. // There’s also a bit where Caito is reading out riddles (like “how many cups of water does it take to fill a bucket?” and when we get it wrong we die a terrible and gleeful death. John’s idea what that once we’re nearly all dead she asks “How many daughters does it take to commit incest?” and boom. // Yeah I’m really interested in playing the serious side of bouffant. Some of the other groups did it, like when one of the characters died all the other bouffant started singing Amazing Grace and it was legit sad haha!! It’s really fun to be surprised with the devised work. Lots of quick changes of tone and atmosphere. Which I suppose is the awesomeness of bouffant because that’s in their nature; drawing the audience in and then punching ‘em in the stomach.

SO it will be an interesting this week to work on our devised. I have no idea where we’re going to take it. And only five more days till I come home for the break!!! Craazy times!!

Love, Bron xxxxx

BOUFFANT 20/09

Wowee what a week!! We have discovered the world of bouffant!!

First up we worked on parodying. Somebody gets up and says something totally normal like, “Do you have a spare bobby-pin?” Then the exaggeration of that line would get bigger and bigger until it was this ridiculous and grotesque imitation. We parodied loved-up couples, parish ministers, junkies, Australian politicians, and other stuff. John stressed how you had to have to have an attitude to the person you were making fun of and stick with that attitude. Like I was making fun of the vanity of sportspeople, Freya played on the sentimentality of ministers, others made fun of the vagueness of politicians. You have to know what you’re making fun of!!!

Then on Tuesday everyone brought in their stretchy clothing and stuffed themselves with blankets and duvets and pillows. We ended up being a gang of deformed, cheeky, sinister creatures. John had us jumping rope in our costumes, being as light on our feet as possible. Moving around the room and relishing our deformities. We stroked each other’s lumps and growths. We went on little missions around the room with the dumbest of the group leading the way. In another exercise someone gets up and runs around the room while John plays this massive skin drum. (Some people have the greatest runs. The idea is that the bouffant is totally unencumbered by their deformities, they leap and dance and are joyous in their movement!!) When John stops drumming the bouffant stops, looks at the audience, and insults them. Intense swearing, but silly, almost child-like. Like a 10-year-old with a disturbing vocabulary. The point is that they are vicious but also loveable. You don’t really mind that they insult you coz they’re so cheeky.

We got into groups and came onstage mimicking theatre-enthusiasts. The leitmotif being “Oh but the first act was wonderful.” We had to tell the audience about how gorgeous and scintillating and simply ravishing the show was. Eventually someone said a rude word and John said that the audience was very offended and that we had to apologise. It was hard to apologise sincerely because you’ve been so immersed in the rudeness and silliness of the mimicking, you still wanted to be cheeky to the audience.

Another group exercise was to become seers, or prophets. A group of five or so people would go on a journey, and then out of the blue someone would have a vision. A lot of wailing and quivering voices and outstretched hands. Some people are starting to find their voices which is really cool. Elka’s bouffant turned into some sort of Southern hillbilly. Fabulous when she gave her vision of Jesus coming to her through the long grass and burning her hand.

So all in all lots of fun!!! Everyone’s getting out of their comfort zones and having a ball which is awesome :)

Love, Bron xxx

12/09

Went to the City Library today. What a lovely space! There was an exhibition about people in Palliative Care (Dad you would’ve liked it!!), a lovely upright piano, lots of books and magazines and study rooms. There was a framed bit of poetry on the wall which I liked so I’m gonna put it here.

The weather inside

Sometimes your thinking can make you cry sometimes your crying can make you think.

My zen answer

You get a grip when you let go.

To progress

Chip away at a wall until it becomes a stepping stone.

Taking stock

You were born naked. Count the masks you’ve worn since.

The teenage boy

His parents understand his less with each body piercing he gets.

- Peter Bakowski 5 ultra short poems

#City Library #Poetry #Peter Bakowski

Some examples of work by the artists we explored in group devised. 1. Self Portrait in the Crowd, At The Moulin Rouge by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec 2. The Temptation of St Anthony by Salvador Dali 3. Yo y Mis Pericos (Me and My Parrots) by Frida Kahlo 4. No. 14 by Mark Rothko

#art #groupdevised

Wow big as post - 11/09

Finally over the sickness!! Success :) Feeling energised and fab and ready to work. It’s been an awesome week in class. // A THOUGHT OCCURRED I’m keeping more of a diary now so I might update this once a week?? Easier to scribble down stuff at the end of the day rather than taking forever to draft and nice-ify a blog post. (Please forgive me Mum and Dad haha xxx) // Speaking of Mum and Dad, they were visiting this week!!! Super nice to see them <3 Went to the National Gallery of Victoria and looked at their contemporary art collection which was amazing. Found some groovy stores. Ate some really good food. Just such a shame it was during the time when I was sick -.- // Oh and applied for VCA and NIDA last night/today. Very stressful as I didn’t realise they were due so soon (i.e. today lol.) But the deed is done. Yay!! //

- neutral mask and text - We worked on moving words while in neutral mask on Wednesday. John asked us to move words like cargo, surge, command and butter (also doing them in different languages such as French and Maori, and seeing how that changed our movements.) // It was hard to separate the phonetic sounds from the actual meaning of the words; as we were asked to move the sound of the words. While you shouldn’t completely disregard the meaning of the words, you didn’t want to be too literal about it. Like melting to the ground as butter. Coz where’s the hard t’s in the middle?? (Nowhere that’s where.) // In a group we had to move three words in a row like “rubuke these surges” (from Pericles’ soliloquy when he’s yelling at the sea.) And then after that we moved on to a piece of poetry; Moving it forward in the space as a group. I personally liked it when the movements were very succinct and clear. //

- Seven stages of tension with text - In partners one person would speak the Pericles soliloquy, while the other would speak them through the stages of tension (i.e. say One:super relaxed, so the speaker would start their speech in that super relaxed state, then when they said Two:relaxed the speaker would pick up their energy a little and continue the speech.) This would continue until the speech was finished. // Now I didn’t do this exercise coz my voice was still munted from my sickness, but it was interesting to see others do it. It seemed to be difficult to contain the stages in your neck, face and voice, rather than using your whole body which we had been doing. // Another interesting thing was a pair who decided they didn’t want to vary the volume of their voice. Containing the tension in their voices rather than letting it loose through loudness. //

- Movement with Penny - In movement class we started off with a warm up. Lying on the floor we imagined a warm ball the size of a tennis ball in our pelvis. By tilting our bodies we could move it around. It was a nice way to stretch out and gently warm up. // Then after that we worked on proximity and duration. About seven people got up on stage and in lanes (like as if they’re in a swimming pool) they had the option to stay still, walk, run, or drop to a lower position. Really beautiful when everyone was listening to one another and things would happen in perfect unison, like two people on either side of the room would drop at the same time. Or when people started to play with each other’s rhythms or play games, like when Zara and Dave continuously ran up and down their lanes. // When we had horizontal and vertical lanes proximity became much more of a factor. People could face each other and stand really close. So interesting when clumps or lines formed. Stillness was mesmerising. And just a head would turn and it would have such an impact. // So interesting how stories emerged from these individual impulses, relationships forming between the players without them realising!!

- Masks - Hot damn these masks are fun. // We played a game where we each had to find something to wrap up and make into a present (things like car keys, a box of tissues, a tampon, whatevz.) A person would put on their mask, come into the space, then discover and unwrap a present. I was wearing a big floral scarf around my head with Amaya’s amazing big-nosed blue mask on. (I just adore being transformed by a mask. You put it on and look in a mirror and boom. You’re a different being altogether it’s creepy and awesome.) So my character popped her head around the corner and looked at the present, a little timid. Going up to to this massive hunk of a present she pokes at it and discovers how heavy it is. Intrigued and a little taken aback!!! Slowly unwrapping it she realises it’s a huge pair of secateurs. I just felt this amazing power grow in me with that discovery. I slowly raised them above my head and opened them and the audience died hahaha. After my performance John was saying how cool it was to see the menacing side of that mask, as if she knew exactly who she was going to kill with the garden tool, when it had previously just been seen as quite gentle and goofy. //

::::::::LESSONS LEARNT WITH MASK::::::: - A still point when you come on stage is absolutely essential. The audience has to see the mask before anything else happens. - In group work entrances are really important. Don’t leave someone on stage too long with nothing to do, when you could’ve come on and brought something new!! But again if something really interesting is happening don’t interrupt it too early. If the audience is laughing best to let that laughter end before coming on. - Less is more. Don’t do any unnecessary movement (especially head turning.) It won’t read and takes away from the clarity of the mask. - When rhythms are established keep them going or it won’t read when you try to break them. - Don’t force anything on the mask (i.e. your own personal rhythm or way of moving, or a weird unsuitable walk.) Allow a natural transformation to occur when you look in the mirror. - A transformation must occur!!! Don’t just put on a mask and act like you don’t have one on. It must change you.

:::::::: FAVE MASK MOMENTS THIS WEEK:::::::::: - Rob using the white mask with red cheeks and becoming this scary tough guy. Such a presence once all the small movements and little costume pieces were taken away. - Anna being a wannabe spy in her twisted green mask. Such a Mr. Bean!!!! Fabulous. - LIZ BEING AN OUTRAGEOUS PANTIE-STEALING DEVIL!!!!!! - Mataara in his tiny skirt taking off his panties and then getting chased by Liz at unexpected moments - Freya wearing her tight-mouthed hairy mask and being the connoisseur of the laundramatte. Coming in with her brilliant still point (such a good mask!!) and then putting coins into the washing machines and just watching them so. intently. Silently watching over the shoulders of the other customers as they put on their washing. SO GOOD!!!!!!! - Zara being a gorgeous old lady lovingly putting in what looked like a bird into the washing machine (then Freya looking at the machine with intense interest as it started hahahaa.)

- Group devised - Well well well. Group devised was all about artists this week. Groups were formed around suggested artists which included Salvador Dali, Mark Rothko, Frida Kahlo and Toulouse Lautrec. What a beautiful afternoon of performances we witnessed!! It’s pretty impossible to perform the lives and the work of these people, and even more impossible to describe the performances hahaha. So I don’t think I’ll try. But there were awesome stage pictures made and amazing ensemble work. // I was emotionally exhausted after performing Rothko. Bloody hell what an intense fellow. what an intense life. what intense art!!! But it was a privilege. I felt like there was a lot of reverence in all the performances this week. ‘Twas cool. //

Love, Bron xxxx

ABSOLUTELY HOPELESS 4/09

Well I’m dumb and I had a ruckus weekend then went to school all week and now I have laryngitis. What a rookie. BUT lots of cool things have been done in class.

- masks- We’ve been working on making our own masks!! While I was sick last week they made casts of their faces (super spooky to see, like dey dead) then filled them with plaster of paris. Once those were set they plopped clay onto them and moulded them to whatever they felt like. (Some insane snozzes were sculpted let me tell you.) After that it was layers and layers of paper-mâché, then you lift the dried paper-mâché off and boom!! Mine’s a little hopeless because it hasn’t been moulded to the shape of a human face, so it may be a smidge flat. But we shall see!!!

- John’s class - We’ve been working on embodying colours this week. Our first exercise was to cut one long strip paper to our height. We then had to colour in the paper corresponding to what colour we felt different parts of our body were feeling that day. // Like my mind (the very tippity top of my strip) was a purple and orange zig-zaggy mess because my mind was a bit chaotic and hungover lol. My entire chest and torso was green because I was still feeling sick (eep.) My hips were pink and purple splotches because I’d been having a good ole time dancing on the weekend. But yeah, it was tricky. I don’t often think in colours, so to choose colours to express parts of my body was hard. // But so nice to hear about everyone’s strips and how they’ve been feeling. Also that people have such different ideas on what colours mean for them. Purple had no significance for some people, but for others it was home. Red was passion, love or pain. Green was sickness for me but vitality for others.

- neutral mask fun - I had FUN IN NEUTRAL MASK. I know. What is this madness. // So once the class had explored red and yellow (red was tricky, a mix of deepness and passion and fire; yellow’s a cutie. really fickle and warm and sweet) I volunteered to do an exercise where I moved across the space transitioning from red, to orange, to yellow. I was stopped quite a few times by John. First up that I was playing too much to the audience, performing the colours to the audience rather than being them, also that my head wasn’t involved in the image. But yay for those colours!! Orange was fun. (one of my favourite colours of course. I love its funness and vibrancy.) He liked that mine was quite jazzy. // Blue was interesting. It was quite watery, but also had to be vast. Oceany. // And the transition between blue and green was quite hard. Green seemed to be more zesty with a sense of growing?? //

But honestly embodying colours is utterly impossible and none of us know what we’re doing. Lol. But it’s cool to see people’s interpretations. And that everyone’s getting a lot more comfortable in their bodies, way more expressive :)

Love, Bron xxxx

#JBschool

27/08

Omg what a hiatus!!! Struck down by a chest cold Saturday-Tuesday and then yesterday I was too lazy to blog. So there you are haha!!

- movement -

Today’s class with Penny was a bit of a struggle for us sickies. A lot of aerobics and running which got the coughs goin’. But I find when the exercise makes you want to die that you always feel like a bright-eyed Amazonian afterwards. So that’s good. //

The other part of the class had five people on a union jack taped to the floor. They had to stay on the lines, but could walk, run, stay still, turn their bodies and/or their heads. Interesting to see the stories that emerged, even though the players weren’t knowingly constructing any. When two players faced each other and one immediately turned away, you felt like one had dominance over the other. Or when there was a still group of people in the centre, and one off to the side, it was as if that lone person was outcast. Lots of stories and interesting shapes were made!! //

When you were in the exercise you had to make sure you were listening to the group. Like paying attention to your own impulses, but also being aware of others’. //

- materials -

John led us in an exploration of different materials. Firstly steel which can bend with relative ease. Then wood, which splinters. Then glass, which shatters. Then olive oil coming out of a bottle and into a pan (omg so seductive hehhe.) Then paper!! //

I had a totally dull moment where I went up as wood which broke and splintered. As soon as I faced the audience I had no idea what I was doing hahaha. Yeah. I didn’t have a strong image in my mind so my body was at a complete loss as to what to do!! One of those things where you just have to pray for the end to come quickly haha. //

Lots of people struggled to get their head involved in their material. It can be easy to focus on the more expressive parts of your body like arms, but the image turns kinda stale when the head and neck ain’t in it. Gotta work on letting the whole body help in the image. //

Saw Lisa today which was awesome!!! We went to see a show called Not Just a Dumb Blonde by Britni Leslie. A cheeky cabaret where she sang lots of famous songs sung by blondes. She got a bit preachy about being true to yourself and not getting sucked into stereotypes, which felt a bit patronising or something. But her voice was insane (not to mention the pianist??? hot damn those keys.) She got a guy out of the audience to sing a song with her saying “Oh don’t worry there’s sheet music” haha and everyone was bracing themselves for a terrible duet but he turned out to be a sight-reading pro with a great voice and it was amazing hahaha. Happy days!!!

Love, Bron xx

19/08

Yoooooo so I’m feeling vaugely sick after some of us went to the night market and gorged on stuffed roti and oreo milkshakes lol... keepin it classy ;) But class was suuuper fun today.

- states of tension -

in John’s class we broke out of neutral mask (omg!!) and worked with the seven states of tension. I’ve worked with them before but never in such depth. John explains them really well!! //

1st state: Extreme relaxation. Takes a lot of effort to move. All the life is gone from your limbs and eyes and face. Practically catatonic. (So funny to see a group of people like this coz they look like a shuffling group of zombies haha.) //

2nd state: Relaxed. This is vaguely Southern (i.e. Australian not European..) Gestures don’t end abruptly. John warned us not to get too stoned with it haha. We did an exercise where you paired up with someone and walked with them, then had a disagreement, and it felt like you were drunk?? Like Rob and I would push at each other but our limbs were so relaxed it felt like we were outside a bar having a half-hearted drunken fight haha. //

3rd state: Pragmatic. This state allows you to make decisions. You had places to go and things to do. More English than Australian?? I loved interacting with others in the room. Everyone was businesslike and busy. Really able. John then asked us to keep this pragmatic front, but lose all of the able-ness. So Lily and I met and it was the most awkward encounter, like we’d both forgotten each other’s names and had nothing to talk about and didn’t know when to say goodbye although we obviously both wanted to go. So funny. Very John Cleese. //

4th state: Neutral Mask. (It strikes again!!) This is a silent state. The intelligence is carried all throughout the body, and so you walk a little taller. The world is interesting, everything seen and felt for the first time. //

5th state: First State of Tension. So this is the first state where there is actually tension in your body. It’s excitement. A little Commedia dell’arte. You want to tell people things, show them things. We did a funny exercise where we were a group devising a piece where people listen and are totally enthused by everyone’s ideas. Just so much excitement and doing!! (and very outrageous ideas hahaha.) //

6th state: Second State of Tension. Things that would trigger this state were things like a serious accident, a catastrophe about to occur, intense stuff. We had a maximum of three gestures. John told us to brace ourselves against the wall in order to get that tension in our body, then race into the middle of the room and react to our . Hahahaha mine was seeing Harry Styles from 1D. That insanity that comes from seeing a celebrity you’re in love with. It was fun. John got a group of us to do it. We had to hold the tension as we waited for them to come on stage, and then bloody exploded when they did hahaha. Another one was to have a group of rugby fans behind a fence and the referee (who made a shit call that caused their team to lose) walk past them. This quiet tension as they waited, and this INSANE wall of anger explode out as he walked past haha awesome. //

7th state: Rigidity. This is where the tension is so strong in your body you are completely rigid. John says this is very rarely seen apart from in Japanese Film. So there ya go. //

Other Stuff: Two other interesting exercises was having a line of tired workers (2nd state) sitting around on break, then their pragmatic boss (3rd state) enter and see how the worker’s state of tension rose. Such an everyday thing, where we naturally match the urgency and energy of the person we’re talking to. Another one was where a person with urgent news (5th state) comes into a group of relaxed people (2nd state) and their state remains the same. Hahaha I came in announcing my engagement and I felt like I had to keep pushing the point and getting more excited so I could get some sort of reaction from them. //

Time for bed haha!!

Love, Bron xxx

#JBschool

18/08

Helloooo!! Hope you are well whoever you might be!! Had a fab weekend but ‘twas back to class yesterday :)

ALL OF THE CLASSES WITH JOHN!!!

- pulling and pushing - this is part of our ‘mime and analysis of movement’ class. // In the beginning we pushed against walls and pulled on each other’s arms; being aware how our muscles worked. So hard to mime it coz all the tension in your body has nowhere to go!! // I got feedback on my pulling to carry on the movement past my hips; I was stopping the movement before it was finished. Also taking notice of the moment of relaxation between pulls.

- prison break - a solo exercise where the neutral man/woman is in a prison cell, but then escapes!! // discovered how the neutral man deals with obstacles. Directly and without hesitation. You see a man? Ya kill him. You don’t know where to go? Look one way, then the other, then choose. No worries. // I loved Cato’s beginning. You could sense her intense awareness of her surroundings, but not being overt with it. This amazing tension without being panicky. Her movements were small and purposeful.

- PLAYING // grandmother’s footsteps and wink murder with masks // skipping rope // tossing bouncy balls - omg so many games yay!!! I think it was about finding that playfulness and alertness needed when in neutral mask // I was a lot more daring wearing the mask in grandmother’s footsteps than I normally am in that game. Just going for that damn jersey. Suppose it’s that thing that the neutral woman has no fear and knows exactly what she wants. // wink murder was a funny one because watching it there was very little tension in the room. It was a little pedestrian, when normally it’s tense as hell haha. maybe it was because the deaths were silent and less dramatic so there wasn’t that feeling of terror in the room?? I think more stillness and watchfulness from the players would’ve raised the stakes. // skipping rope yaaas. the funnest exercise was when the class was split in two and stood on opposite ends of the room; the two ropes swinging in between. two people would step forwards and enter their rope at the same time. simultaneously jumping four times and keeping eye contact. After that leave the ropes and meet in the middle, making some sort of movement of play together. Hahaha just the amount of fun and play that went on was awesome. The ending movements were always so cute and playful. (I also liked having to read my jumping partner’s body language to know when to enter. Once you got that cue you just had to go for it otherwise everything screwed up haha. more fearlessness!!!) // with tossing balls in a circle, one person would be in the middle throwing the ball to someone, and right away receiving a ball from someone else. The pattern of throwing and receiving was set and a rhythm started. Someone from the circle could then come up behind the thrower and say ‘change’; then the middle person had to quickly get out of the way so the new person could catch the ball and continue the pattern. it was so hard to obey when someone said change!!! I instinctually went to catch the ball instead of surrendering my position. Suppose that means I need to work on staying sharp and handing over the spotlight when it’s needed haha!! Lots of fun though when the rhythm was kept.

- elements of fire and air - Yesterday we worked on fire: sparky and unpredictable and dangerous and full of movement. There’s this never ending energy in it, this constant consuming of oxygen. // This time when doing my solo I was able to keep my eyes open and let my imagination really go which was cool. I guess having performed an element in front of an audience for a second time lessens the freaky-ness of it a little. (Only a little haha.) // And today we focussed on air!! Lighter and less substantial than water. The ability to be effortless and almost still. John kept telling people off for working their bodies too much. He didn’t want to see their muscles working. And he told me I wasn’t allowed to get back on stage if I wasn’t going to use my hips and legs hahaha. So that’s a lesson learned!! It’s easy to focus on certain parts of your body and forget about the rest. // I did have a thought though.... My experience of the wind in Wellington is mean and incessant and pushy. So I was wondering how you can be insubstantial, yet powerful. My performance sort of explored that. Yeah, my feedback was that I was very gusty. Perhaps not strong though.

- water, fire, air - In groups of three we prepared a piece where we started out as water gushing out of a tap into a pan, the water was brought to boiling point, which then evaporated into the air. // we found the water really had to boil, not just simmer or something, otherwise the transformation into steam was anti-climatic. The transformation from one element into another has to be significant. // I may think of other things later but my brain is fried lol it was a cool exercise though xx

- singing with Jo yeeah - Did a cheeky gospel first up (yaaas.) And then worked on our four-part French song. So cool how everyone is giving it a go and listening to one another!! Takes me back to me choir and barbershop days <3

GOODNIGHT AND SLEEP TIGHT!!

Love, Bron xx

#flippinlongpost #JBschool

A busy Friday 15/08

MOVEMENT YEAH!!!

Movement with Steph was interesting yesterday. We were exploring how to fill the space when in neutral mask, coz so far we’ve been working in large open spaces like the ocean or a mountain range, and it can be hard to fill it with your stage presence!! Plus looking at how to achieve that feeling of being on the cusp of doing which is apparently the quality of energy you want to have when in mask.

First off we moved around the room being aware of the space behind and on either side of us. She told us to imagine there were parachutes behind our shoulder blades that filled with air as we walked. We sped it up and slowed it down. Then Steph would clap and we would have to freeze, but keep that same energy. A suspended moment of almost doing.

Then we had to move around the space and like, tag on to someone else as they walked. Feeling what it felt like to take up double the space.

The main exercise was in pairs. One person massaged the other, getting them nice and warm, and then lowering your centre of gravity, sort of lunge behind them, so they could out their weight on your bent knee. You had to get into the rhythm of their breathing and then with a little push on the exhale, push them up to standing. The next part was kinda Titanic-y where you’d hold the person by their hip bones, and while you were still maintaining a low centre of gravity, they would lean forwards and stretch their arms out. (Hehe.) Then you’d gently pull them back in. They were allowed to lean so far forwards that you lost balance because Steph said there was a moment there when the energy was just perfect. A moment of suspense just before you both toppled over haha!!

Then after that exercise, the person in front would walk around the space, but the person behind would be holding them back by their hips. So there was this huge pulling force that you had to fight against. After doing that for a minute or so the person behind would let go and woooah there’s this amazing momentum that pushes you forwards and carries you around the space for ages. So cool!!!

From this Steph talked how good it was to engage those pelvic muscles in order have your body be alert and ready for (theatrical lol) action, and also about knowing as an actor when that natural momentum and energy runs out, when you should stop. Not to push anything past its natural stopping point, because in neutral mask it’s blindingly obvious when a movement loses its motivation. A cool exercise to explore those things!!

THEN LOL IT WAS GROUP DEVISED

Soooooo yeah our group’s performance wasn’t that fab. Though none of us corpsed (laughed inappropriately while acting) so that was good haha!!! Yeah, John said there was no theatre in it. And that out of all of us, only I had some life in my narration. He said the characters had no life or guts or anything in them. It was all very demonstrative. And yeah, I totally agree. We really lost the interest and joy in telling the story because we were so hung up about being serious and playing it straight and ‘true’. John says its imperative that you tell your group when you’re bored with what you’re doing and DO something about it. Because if you are bored doing it, the audience will be too.

COOL THINGS OTHER GROUPS DID:

// Using some of the exercises in class to show the storms Pericles got caught in. Lots of awesome movement. // Using moments of stillness really nicely. Like after the storm when Thaisa’s body is thrown overboard, Pericles emerged holding his baby, and it was so quiet and still. NB: you’ve gotta earn the stillness!!! // Using clever conventions so they didn’t parody the story or characters (like in one where there’s a jousting competition, it was all shown in the faces of the King and Princess that were watching it… their eyes followed the imaginary jousters and then lit up when one of them won and started clapping. The whole class started applauding with them it was so exciting haha!!) // Lots of the groups used music really nicely. Especially with Marina. Created awesome atmospheres. // Transitions were smooth and interesting. (At one point four actors formed a boat, complete with a ridiculously funny figurehead maha, and sort of swept Marina into it as they passed her.)

STUFF THAT WE CAN ALL IMPROVE ON:

I think the whole neutral mask thing, and last week’s devised pieces, kind of paralysed us in a way that we’re scared of the text. Scared of disturbing the story or go too deep into it in case we make a mistake and parody it. NO John says!!!!!! Don’t be vague or reverent. Be specific and go deep. Because therein lies the truth of the story and characters!!! Steph was saying how Mataara (who at one point played the goddess Diana) has amazing god-like hair haha and could definitely and totally play a god/goddess convincingly. He has the capacity to take that impossible role and do it. Yeah, telling us all that it’s an honour as actors to be given this near impossible roles. And that we just have to be brave and believe that we can do it and then do it.

Gosh yeah. I feel that doing all this work in being still and natural and strong under the mask has like, made me scared to act??? To have fun and be creative and not precious about every move I make…. hmmm it’s such a hard line to walk. All the things we’re learning and being told are conflicting in my mind. Because with the neutral mask there is a sense of reverence. There’s a whole respect thing around it. We have to hold ourselves a certain way when we wear it. The neutral man/woman that we become when we wear the mask is very unhuman; they are composed and otherwordly. So it’s hard to acknowledge the ‘neutral’ world we’re being immersed in, and then go into this very human, flawed, crazy story and tell it with specifics and soul.

Hmm. I shall ponder.

Love, Bron xxxx

(Oh and me and two of the JB gals went to a rad dance party at a club last night!! My ears are still ringing a day later. The calibre of dancing was super high. Very gay and very fun. The playlist was exclusively Gaga, Madonna, Mariah, Cher, Janet, and Beyonce so we were vibing it all night. Some amazing drag performances too!!!)

#JBschool

A KIND OF REVIEW THING 13/08 cont.

...... thought I’d break that last post up coz it was getting flipping long haha.....

Then in the evening some of us went to a show at La Mama Theatre in Carlton!! It was a promenade piece with about 16 shows going on in the venue at one time. We were each given a personalised lanyard with six pegs on it (they called them our ‘dance cards’ hehe), each one representing which piece we would see and in what order.

1. So first up Mataara and I went under the stairs against the theatre to hear a monologue telling the story of The Little Mermaid. The actor gave us teddy bears to hold while she told us the story (which was cute, made me instantly more attentive.) During the performance she would switch between a mother telling her child the story (like the Disney version) and the child telling the gruesome Grimms Brothers version. (The child was a touch over-done which was a shame.) The beginning was a little cringe. She looked away and wistfully said “This is my story. It has broken hearts. Yearnings. A beautiful man with a cruel smile… etc.” There was also a bit where she sat on the basin and giggled, then placed her feet on the ground and screamed in pain (indulgent screaming irritates me in performance lol) but I dunno, it was justified by the end once you’d heard the story. I just hate starting a performance feeling a vibe of wistful, indulgent actor-y-ness?? Cool to hear the real story though!! So creepy :O

2. The next one was in an alleyway with a corrugated iron wall splashed with paint. We sat on wooden stools facing it. When the performance began the actor greeted us as old friends saying how thankful he was for us to be there. (I love being instantly welcomed into a performance!! Like the bathroom thing in last week’s group devised!!) He said he wanted our opinion as he’d been accepted into commerce at uni, but also invited to join an art colony and wasn’t sure which one to choose. The whole piece was sort of a struggle with a creative, ‘indulgent’ life and one that was analytical and ‘secure’. What’s best I guess?? He turned on an iPod that would announce two contrasting concepts (e.g. individualism and communeality). He would then start telling us an anecdote (always exploring the more ‘creative’ noun), once the iPod made a loud ticking sound, he would switch to inspecting something or building something, representing the more ‘stable’ noun. The ticking would get faster and faster until he could only say one word of the story before being interrupted by the other action. Really cool idea and he was super engaging when he was telling us the stories. But as the changes got quicker you could sense the actor’s tiredness and his commitment to the movements got less and less which took away from the fun of it. You began to feel bad for making him perform it. But when he was enjoying himself it was super fun and engaging!!

3. Our next one was a sound recording of a girl leaving a voice message. We sat in the courtyard, around the fire pit with headphones on. (Super nice contrast to the very busy and physical pieces we’d seen!!) It started off with her being super hesitant, saying how she was being stupid for calling and she wasn’t sure why she was doing it. We turned out to be an old boyfriend/girlfriend of hers. She told us how she’d read the book we’d recommended her, and how she understood what we’d been trying to say with it. Eventually you figure out it was Alice in Wonderland. The piece was about the girl struggling to let go and be adventurous and living life fearlessly (’following the white rabbit’). The ending was super sad. But yeah, I thought it was done really well (if a bit teenage-angsty but that’s ok hehe). Tugged at le heartstrings.

4. Next we saw a dance piece. We went into the theatre and were seated in front of a thin plastic sheet hanging from the ceiling. There was another one at 90 degrees to it, so it formed a closed cube of plastic-y space against the wall. Two dancers in white shirts silently entered the space. They each took up a pole and started a routine. Really simple, not looking at each other. This continued for a while (at some point some plinky music came on??) and then eventually during one of the movements they knocked into one another. (THEN RED GLITTER STARTED FALLING FROM THE CEILING AND DIDN’T STOP TILL THE PIECE ENDED!!!) After that there was this cool tension between them; suddenly aware of each other in the space. The routine morphed into a dance between the two of them, at times playful and others aggressive. And in the end they were doing beautiful contact improvisation (where the dancers are always touching, just fluidly moving off and around each other.) Really beautiful piece.

5. Next was in a little blanket fort (suuuuper nice blanket fort may I say?? duvets!! fairy lights!!) where a girl told us her struggle against gender stereotypes. She’d always wanted to be an engineer, but after being told she couldn’t, ended up a hairdresser. Yeeeah wasn’t so convinced about this one. There wasn’t anything particularly theatrical or joyful or engaging about it. There was a little bit of sock puppetry which was fun, but most of it was just a girl telling us a story which didn’t feel that genuine. The character seemed to give up on her dream weirdly quickly after being told she couldn’t, which felt like a bit of a cop out… Like c’mon if you want something you stick it out for at least a little bit…. The script was unsatisfactory in the character department.

6. And last up was a sort of abstract clown piece. It switched between scenarios, some based in the real world, others not. They all kind of talked about diagnoses, trying to ‘fix’ things. One of the performers was fab and really open. It was just Mataara and I as the audience and he comfortably looked us right in the eyes when he spoke. He didn’t put anything on top of his characters, like any attitudes. Really nice. But the other actor always had like a bitch vibe on. Which annoyed me. As if she didn’t have the guts to just play a real person, they always had to have a layer of sass and superiority about them. Be open, woman!!!

So yeeeaah! All the pieces had cool things in them :) Because of the tiny audiences (a maximum of five people!!) the actors were forced to acknowledge us and connect with us in a really intimate way which was awesome. But they all felt quite first-draft. Very un-edited. Also you could feel the tiredness of the actors which sort of brought the joy down a bit (I totally understand though….. imagine having to perform the same thing three times a night!!) But really cool ideas throughout all the pieces :)

Love, Bron xxx

#theatrewaddup

1. Zara and I explored the city centre and found a road side florist 🌹🌻 2. Me trying to be arty?? Just some tagging in a bathroom hahaha 3. La Mama theatre. Behind me was the courtyard which was gorgeous and cosy 😍

13/08

Hola!!

Gosh every day is so crammed full of stuff if I miss one day I forget everything haha...

This morning was movement with Penny. Once again we did aerobics which got the ole heartbeat racing. Then individually we had to explore different primary movers. Starting with the hips, seeing what interested us about how they work and how our body can use them to move. We went on to try our knees, our thigh bones, our pelvis, spine, wrists, and then arms. I love being focussed on myself and then when I widen my gaze I see everyone else doing completely different stuff. All driven by the same provocation!!

We did that fun game where everyone moves independently but now and again you can tune into someone else’s and copy them for a while, and then move on. Just being constantly interested in what you were doing was awesome. If you got a teensy bit bored you could just move on to someone else. Now and then you would be in a group of six or so people all doing the same move and you kind of felt like a cult or a pack of strange animals. Eventually everyone was doing the same movement and that’s where the exercise ended.

The last exercise was my fave. Called flocking? Or school of fish? Where you’re in a diamond formation with six or so others and the person in the lead (like the person facing forward who can’t see anyone else) could turn the group 90 degrees, so then there would be a new leader (a different person facing forward who can’t see anyone else.) At first we could just play with turning and stillness. But everyone in the group had to move with the leader, so you felt like a school of fish (like those ones taunting Marlin in ‘Finding Nemo’.) Then gradually Penny introduced head turns, running, and finally ‘shapes’.

It was hypnotic playing that game!! You became like a pack mind. You couldn’t think about what you would do next because it was all this creepy mindless haze of togetherness. (Very culty I know haha.) All the groups got a turn at sitting down and watching and it was the most beautiful thing to watch. So fluid and calm and together. It was cool when the groups interacted and moved through each other, you could see a narrative starting to come through. Bit by bit people would break off their groups and become part of others so by the end there were just two huge groups.

I liked it :)

We had a cheeky bit of group devised after that. My group has managed to tame the silliness and are now doing narration with a dumb show in front. It’s very very loose, but the actions are a lot stronger than they were before. Which is groovy. But whyyyy are Shakespeare plot lines so outrageous hahaha.

We had a class with John after lunch. This class was the freakiest thing I’ve ever done in performing. It was all about water. At first we were seaweed, anchored and gently moving in the swell of the sea. Then we could be carried off by a current. I liked that bit. We also played with being the water, and being a person in the water. A tricky thing to get physically!!

Oh my gosh and so the last bit the class sat on one side of the room and one by one people would get up and perform their water. Once you had the mask on you had to establish the breath of the water, like get yourself in the zone (I’m literally swaying as I type this hahaha) and then turn to face the class.

HOLY COW SO HARD??? Like all good closing your eyes and being water, but to open your eyes and see your class and to like, lose yourself was the most terrifying thing :/

I loved watching people do the exercise. Some people are really generous and fearless with their movement which is amazing to watch :)

Love, Bron xxx

Holy cow - 11/08

We started neutral mask today

aaaaand I might die. Like it’s awesome, but I think I need to sleep for a couple of days before our next class ahhhhh.

First up was John’s class. Everyone sat in a circle to form the acting space. Five people at a time would put on a neutral mask, lie on the floor and go to sleep, and then wake up as if for the first time.

Man how weird are neutral masks!?? When on they transform people into these dignified, noble, straight-backed human-animals: so superior, calm, kinda creepy?? My favourite moments were when people stood still and just looked. Their eyes became so transfixing and clear. Sitting there you felt like you were watching a rare animal.

In talks people had contrasting observations (both from the inside and the outside.) Some people, while wearing the mask, found that their ‘worlds’ were really clear and came and went naturally. While for me, I never found a world. I was literally in that hall, just responding to the heat and cold I felt and any patches of light I stumbled into. Some people felt restricted, others felt really free. Some people became really calm and focused, others were freaking out because they could hear their breathing and heartbeat!!

Obviously affects everyone totally differently :)

After that we had singing with Jo. Gotta say, I’m digging doing singing in this course. Such a relief to just sing simple, soulful songs. Cool to create something awesome with the whole group and not have to discuss and angst over it, just sing :) We’re learning a four part French song (I’m a soprano whyy did I agree maha??) which is sounding gorge.

Very much on the other hand is group devised. Lots of angst. Lots of discussion. We’re taking Act One of Pericles and performing it. Since you have kings and princes and wanky soliloquies it can be easy to play it up!!!! So today we stumbled through the act, experimenting with narration and silent characters, but yeah. It’s all turning pretty daggy and silly so we might have to re-think it tomorrow!!

Last up for the day was another class with John. First up we mimed chopping a tree with an axe. Feeling the weight in your hands then using the momentum of the upward swing to chop dat imaginary wood. (I found it hard coz I don’t think I’ve ever successfully used an axe in real life lol -.- ) Then contrasting with the hardness of the axe, we were asked to be by a river and wash a large bit of cloth in the water. Then after that we had to dig with a shovel, either dirt or sand.

Man it got the heartbeat goin’!! Amazing how you can tire yourself out by pretending to chop a tree and do some washing haha!!! I loved throwing myself into the mime and extending my body with each movement. Finding the exertion it took to really give those movements life.

Holy cow. And then we went on a journey that Frodo Baggins would be proud of. John spoke us through an ocean, a sandy beach, a jungle, a stream, up a mountain and down again, and across a great plane. We’d move around the space imagining our bodies fighting against water resistance, our feet sinking into the sand, the branches and logs and puddles we had to avoid in the jungle, the current pushing against us as we crossed the stream, the handholds and leaps we had to make as we hauled ourselves up the mountain, then the falls and slips on our way down, and then finally we arrived on the great sandy desert where we stood and watched the setting sun. Who needs the gym when you can pretend to walk across a country??

Loved it though. Again just putting your entire body and soul into the mime. Nothing else matters apart from the world you are inhabiting.

But yeah. Going to sleep for approximately ten years now.

Love, Bron x

1. The outside really was big. 2. The lovely big room with a stained glass ceiling 3. Ceiling 😱 4. The badass entrance way 5. Centre Place which totally reminded me of Welly ❤️❤️

9/08

In the weekend I had a teeny adventure: ventured into town and finally got a bank account (thrilling I know), went to the ‘Hermitage’ exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, and found a Cuba-St-esque laneway (reminded me of home!!)

The gallery is amazing. Bloody big. You just have to stand outside and marvel for a bit coz it’s so freaking big. Huge and grey. Then when you (eventually) find the entrance, it’s made out of huge glass panels with water rippling down them.

Inside there were huge slowly turning mobiles with cymbals hanging off them, a piece called “We’ll see how all reverberates” by Carlos Amorales. Kids with big as sticks whacking them at random. (Like the smaller the kid the bigger the noise??) All the adults looked a little jealous ;) Then past that there was a huge space with an amazing stained glass ceiling.

The actual exhibition was one of those things that are tedious in the moment but pretty bad ass in hindsight. (Doesn’t help that as a rookie gallery goer I didn’t eat before I entered the mammoth exhibition, and so was dying a quiet death about half way through... good one me.)

The exhibition was about the art collection of Catherine the Great. What a lady!! She loved culture and literature and art. Yeah, she really liked her art. She had like whole houses built to display her collections in. Lots of them were portraits of people, and the way they paint the eyes?? Like they’re looking right into you. How do they do that, I dunno.

Sunday I slept and read all day :) Oh and the first episode of LLL that I’m in came out on Sunday! Very exciting :D https://youtu.be/u6GPB94-RzY

Photos in the next post :)

Bron x

Woah one week down!! - 7/08

The title says it all haha. Time flies so freaking fast here. Madness.

So yesterday we started off with a movement class with Steph. She stressed how we were to think of the class as more of a ‘lab’. Where we’re exploring, but where nothing is necessarily ‘right’?

We worked on the concept of opening and closing. Expansions and contractions. One of the exercises was pretending we were in a crowded airport, looking for a very long lost loved one whose plane was about to arrive. Mostly closed, but every now and then an expansion in the body when we thought we saw them. (Just raising your head and lifting your arms slightly away from your body, I’m pretty sure, constitutes as an expansion.) And then OMG!!! there they were!!! Like you’d just make eye contact with someone in the room and you’d stare at each other for a bit and it was so cute to see their face light up haha. And then at first everyone like ran to each other and hugged furiously and chatted away, but Steph said we should try be brave and just extend that moment. Just like look at each other and feel that held expansion. Anna and I had to stare into each other’s eyes lovingly for like 8 minutes hahaha. But yeah, interesting to see if you could hold that intimacy when you went further and further apart.

Then we performed our group devised stuff. The task was to set the scene in a specific place (like a lift, a house party, whatever) and then have an event happen. After a wee discussion we decided this was something unexpected, something that raises the stakes, and/or something that changes the situation.

My group set our scene on a tram. In it a guy gets off and leaves his bag, then over the intercom an announcement is made that because of terrorist threats in Oz, any suspicious behaviour or unattended bags should be reported. Course then everyone freaks coz they think the bag has a bomb in it.

John liked the rhythm that was set up with the stops being announced, the train jolting still and the doors beeping open. Yaaas. And he was happy with the lack of face-acting we were all doing hahaha success!! Though the event was a bit blurry... was it when the guy left his bag? Or was it the announcement when everyone freaks out!?? Who knows!!!! (lol coz we didn’t...)

One of the other group devised performances I loved led us into the girls’ bathroom. It was cramped coz there were like 18 of us in there (and it ain’t a big space). The performers were outside in the hall so for a while we just stood there silently, like what’s happening lol. And then suddenly Alice stumbled in, totally not fazed by the huge group of people, made her way to the mirror and checked her lipstick. (At this point you could hear the others outside singing “Rock Your Body” mahaha.) Alice went into one of the stalls and locked the door. The others poured in and it was obvious it was the interval at a Backstreet Boys concert. Man and yeah, it just felt really real. Like that hyped, euphoric feeling when you’re taking a break from an awesome night. They were washing their faces and talking about how sweaty they were and how fucking awesome it was haha and then one by one they went pee and the energy was really high and when they were about to leave Alice started banging on the door saying it was stuck and she couldn’t get out.

Eventually Zara went under the stall door (hahaha and Mataara was like “You skinny bitch!”) and hoisted Alice over the top. Then Alice and the others went outside together and left Zara to wiggle under the stall door again and rush after them.

Super refreshing not being asked to suspend reality and pretend to be in a setting (omg which is like the whole point with theatre haha?? -.- ). But yeah, cool to be so gracefully and easily welcomed into their evening.

Might go to the National Gallery today or sumthin!!!

Bron x

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