#stan's cafe

[greenfinch]

[utrfestival-blog]

If you missed the fun of the January 16th's livestream, you can still go back and listen to Stan's Cafe's COMMENTATORS, commenting on the Friday-night action of The Public Theater's Lobby, at the Under the Radar: The Commentators webpage.

[utrfestival-blog]

The Commentator's, from Stan's Cafe, are live commenting on the action of the lobby of The Public Theater right now, through 10 pm. Join us at The Public to be a part of the fun, or listen in on the livestream at the Under the Radar Commentators site.

[fuckyeahgreatplays]

Hey utrfestival I'm coming for ya tonight

[utrfestival-blog]

There has been rather unreasonable nerdy excitement in the Stan’s Cafe office as we learn that the container ship Osaka Express has just moored in New Jersey on the Hudson River. In theory one of the many many containers on board is the one containing all the set, props and costumes required to perform The Cardinals.

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Real-time updates from Stan's Cafe on their journey to Under the Radar!

[utrfestival-blog]

Advice on Devised Theatre from Stan's Cafe

We are devising a show. Do you have any advice for us? Dear Stan's Cafe I saw your show Simple Maths at Portsmouth Arts Centre and really enjoyed it [...] We are devising a show at college next term, do you have any advice for us? Dear Emma, Thank you for your recent letter. We are glad that you enjoyed Simple Maths. It is always good to receive such encouragement. Your project sounds exciting, especially as you have a decent amount of time to explore your ideas. We tend to find that working processes change from project to project and so clearly giving any specific advice is difficult. However you may wish to think about a few things. Economy of means: Audiences tend to be visually very literate and a lot cleverer than many theatre companies give them credit for. You can therefore strip things right back and still get your story / ideas across. We find nothing more tedious than having something over-explained to us. Ambiguity: A connected point is that of over-determination. If all aspects of a story are told with exhaustive clarity there remains little room for an audience to play with an idea or setting. This explains why we tend to leave large areas of ambiguity in our work. We like to encourage audiences to actively engage with material rather than simple receive it as if spoon-fed. Integrity : Even if it's good, if it's not part of the idea cut it out. Keep in focus what you are attempting to do. This doesn't mean become inflexible, it does mean things don't get in if the main argument for their existence is they "look good". Cheap tricks tend to be just that, cheap. Only if they support your overarching objectives strongly can you allow them in. Audiences I believe, in the long term, can sniff integrity. I hope those three points are of some help, if not you can always pop this letter in your note book and pick up an extra percentage point or two. Good luck. James Yarker, Birmingham (23rd February 1998)

Stan's Cafe

[utrfestival-blog]

James Yarker of Stan's Cafe on Devised Theater

How do you work collaboratively on devised shows?

How do you agree on ideas?

When does the technical input begin and how does the entire creative and technical team work together successfully to create a strong, collaborative production?

What are your devising practices?

You will get a sense of our approach to working collaboratively by reading between the lines in other documents on the website, but here are some other thoughts, shooting from the hip: As artistic director I tend to bring the core ideas to the table for each new project. These may well have been influenced by discussions with other company members, they may arise out of previous shows we have worked on or common lines of thought, but I tend to set the agenda first off. Then everyone else gets their hands on the idea and there is no real preciousness about who's come up with what. I think Stan's Cafe strikes a healthy balance between discussing ideas and trying them out practically. This balance varies between projects as each present different challenges and respond to different approaches. Thinking and Doing tends to be balanced within working days but it isn't unknown for a day to be spent purely in discussion. We usually work 10am - 6pm five days per week when devising but discussion can spill over into informal chats when making meals together or sitting around in the pub. Rehearsals are often recorded on video but only referred to occasionally, usually to clarify details of improvisation, or analyse passages which felt good, occasionally fragments of text or movement will be transcribed from the videos. In early rehearsals I tend to act as an outside eye and chair discussions. In later rehearsals I can get detailed in direction but this process is usually a dialogue. Everyone is active in the devising process and established company members now take familiar roles within discussions. We all have great respect for each other therefore feel comfortable to put our opinions and ideas on the line with each other. We very rarely find ourselves in serious disagreements. We have no set games or exercises as each new project throws up different problems. As the shows tend to be conceived fairly holistically integrating technical input tends not to be too difficult. Music is commissioned from people whose style fits the atmosphere we are looking for. We do set design in-house as this evolves organically through the process. When we do work with designers for costumes, props or so-on we try and talk as early as possible and keep from making decisions until as late as possible. We try and give people freedom to do their own thing and ask them to get as close to the process as possible. Lighting / pyrotechnic design will be discussed from very early on and usually added very late. Most things will be tweaked after the first public performance, the tweaking can be fairly major. We now try and devise over an extended period, maybe working for a fortnight then doing nothing on the show for months, then a couple more weeks before another big break, then a final blitz to make the thing. This gives us time to reflect, reconsider, develop additional material, such as text, between times, and allows the premiere to be a second or third draft of the show. James Yarker (Jan. 2003)

Stan's Cafe

[utrfestival-blog]

Imagine this structure isn't in a shop but is outside in the dark and that the rains haven't stopped and that the water level has continued to rise and we're all huddled together on this little island, Birmingham, we haven't seen the sun for months and there's no electricity, how do we pass the time? Yes we can sing and we can dance. We can tell each other stories and we can make a show right here, like the Kids from Fame. We don't need anything but ourselves. This is one of the reasons I love theatre. It is an art form for the apocalypse.

James Yarker of Stan's Cafe. Presented at Selfridges' Festival of Imagination in association with The BIAD Center for Fine Art Research (CFAR) Friday 21st February, 2014