The Perils of Facebook

My drama class started again last night. Yes, despite my somewhat mixed feelings at the end of last year, I've signed up again - mainly because it's the only way I get to do some drama, as I haven't the time to commit to anything else at the moment.

As usual, we do the introductions, who we are and why we're here. There are 3 of us who have gone back, and 5 'newbies'. As it gets to me Kate says 'and we always know what Val's up to and where she is from her Facebook status'.

I suppose it serves me right for adding her!

Not with a bang

My drama class came to an end last week with ‘An evening of monologues and (one) duologues’.

As we arrived, everyone was asking, ‘how many are you bringing?’ ‘none’, ‘none’, ‘one'. By the time we were ready to start, we had an audience of 3 guests, the other class members, the admin staff, the adult education organiser, and the tutor’s daughter who she’d press-ganged into attending!

We certainly had variety – from Ariel in silver boots and with tinsel in her hair, to Blanche DuBois complete with table, candle and herb cigarettes – and worried looks from the staff who feared that the smoke alarms would go off, a Welsh Nora, a bit of The Dumb Waiter, a couple of modern pieces, and my Mrs Sullen from The Beaux Strategem.

No one forgot their lines. J, who’d legged it two weeks ago, did turn up, but just to watch, and so K gave him my camera to take pics. And as he wasn’t familiar with it, we got a few pics of people just as they left the stage, who then had to be asked to go back and pose. As a performance, it didn’t run like any other that I’d been in, but for many of them, it was only the second time that they’d been on a stage, so they did well.

Afterwards, as we drank the wine, the discussion turned to ‘what next?’ For some of them, seeking out some ‘am dram’, for others, that’s it, they’ve done it now, for one, a ‘career’ as a Jack Sparrow look-a-like. For me, I just don’t know. I do know that I need to do drama, in some shape or form, so I hope that my slight rant about all the theatre projects being for kids and there being nothing for adults went home. I doubt it though.

It doesn't matter what you say as long as you leave enough gaps

‘Did you go and see The Dumb Waiter at York Theatre Royal?’
‘Yes’
‘What did you think?’
‘It was about 55 minutes too long’
‘Oh (Pinteresque pause)…how long did it last’
‘About an hour’.

Racks and torments

I've been back at my drama class again this term, and last night was our 'dress' for our end of term/end of course show. That actually sounds rather grand, when what it is is an evening of monologues and duologues (well, one duologue), with wine and nibbles (well, we have to do something to tempt the audience in!)

We've built our stage (thankfully easier than it sounds), and started running through our speeches - I've chosen one from Farqhuar's 'The Beaux Stratagem' - all the others are pretty contemporary. I run through it a couple of times, and K, our tutor offers some useful advice on pacing it, and taking my time over a couple of sections. Others go through their speeches, and then we come to J - he was there earlier, and had struggled with his lines. We're now doing a run, and we look around - somehow, he's gone. A couple of the guys who have done their bit are rehearsing outside, so we ask if they've seen him - no! It seems he's bottled it, as there's no sign of him. Eventually, about an hour later, we track him down in the pub!

Scenes from a drama class

As we're doing line runs for our monologues (to be performed in either two weeks, or four weeks - I'm praying it's the latter!), my phone beeps. I apologise to my partner and pick it out of my bag.
'R u watching the Eurovision semis?' I text back to say I'm at drama. For the rest of the lesson I'm receiving regular updates. I look at my partner - he clearly thinks I've gone a bit mad. It doesn't help matters when I decline a trip to the pub, to go home and watch it. By the end of the evening we're looking at a host of Eastern block qualifiers, and our chances of 'nul points' seem to be getting higher.

Other people just don't seem to appreciate the wonderful craziness that is Eurovision

We did it!

And so, we performed our play last night. My stress level was already running high by the time I got to the school, as I’d still been on the Liverpool ring road at 4pm, and we had to be there for 6.15pm.

I arrived to discover that our performance space had been changed due to a double booking of a ballet class (‘why am I not surprised?’) and we were in the process of ‘building’ our set in the assembly hall. So, rather than a nice little studio theatre, with all the lighting rigged for us, we were in a school hall. So much for the scenes that demanded blackout, then! We spent most of the intervening time moving chairs and tables around. It was probably one of the more bizarre performance spaces I’ve played in.

I was pleased to see that we had a full cast, and no one had lost their nerve at the last moment, and at least all the furniture moving meant that there was little time to feel nervous.

Are we gathered at the back of the hall for our entrance, it filled up (must have been the attraction of the belly dancers, who were on after us), so we probably had an audience of around 70.

It actually went remarkably well. No one forgot their lines, everyone remembered their moves, and if there were a few unintentional pauses (and a point where one of the sound cues failed so two scenes swapped places) then I don’t think the audience noticed. It only lasted about 20 minutes in total, so, as I told people, really not worth travelling for. As soon as we came off stage we hit the bar – which set a really good example, as the piece was about drinking!

Afterwards, in the tradition of all actors, we headed for the pub to talk about it, and ended up in gales of laughter about all the things that had gone wrong. Yes, however minor the production, acting still gives me that high, and I know why I do it.

Rehearsals, Chasing Cars and alternate universes

It was all a bit mad on Thursday – it was our last rehearsal for the play (I’d say ‘dress’ but some hadn’t bothered with their costumes), and we were trying to bring those who hadn’t come to the ‘tech’ on Tuesday up to speed. We didn’t managed a run without people fluffing lines and stopping. Many of them have never performed in front of an audience before and we’re on next week! I know there’ll we’ll give a performance, but I don’t think it will be one I’ll be proud of.

As soon as we finished, I headed across town to the Vicky Vaults, and Griffin’s second gig in two weeks. It’s not a very big pub, I’ve been to gigs there before, and know how cramped it can get, so I wasn’t really surprised to find that there was no chance of getting into the room where he was singing. So, for the first half, Cat and I stayed in the other bar, where we could hear just fine.

For the second set, we moved to seats in a corner, whilst Corinne and Gayle stood on bar stools so they could see over the heads of the unmoving crowd. It was incredibly smoky. I really can’t wait for 1 July and for this to become a thing of the past.

He sounded great, and it was nice just to listen. His voice will always bring me back I guess. Some songs sounded glorious, and yet, for the first half at least, much of the time my head was somewhere else. Probably still at rehearsal.

Last time, I was frantically trying to phone Corinne when he started ‘Chasing Cars’. This time, well, we waited. He was getting to the end, we’d sung along to ‘Mark Viduka’ again. He had to do it, he really had to. And then, as the final song, those opening chords. As his voice soared, I felt thrilled for her. And it was fantastic.

As for the alternate universe, that would be the one where Snow Patrol are playing Griffin songs in a pub.

All about the music

It's drama class once again, and we're talking about whether our devised piece needs music*.

K, our tutor, says 'there's a piece that's stuck in my head at the moment, and I'm really wondering if we can work it in'.

Somehow, I already know where this is going.

K 'it's by Snow Patrol, Chasing Cars'

I laugh, and say I knew that would be it. It seems to be the ubiquitous song at the moment. Even though our piece is about a car crash, I really don't think it would fit!

*At the moment, it surely needs something - we have two more rehearsals, and we haven't a fixed format as yet!

Scenes from a drama class

We’re talking about how we’d stage the play that we’ve just read. It’s called ‘Too Much Punch for Judy’ and it’s one that we’re going to be doing some improvisations on, to link in with a student performance. It’s not surprising that I’ve never heard of it before, given that it’s a TIE play, but apparently it’s one of the most frequently performed plays. Though that does make me wonder about the teacher who has chosen it for a GCSE assessment piece for these kids, as it’s likely that the assessors will have seen it numerous times

The tutor suggests the ‘round’ as being an option, and asks if anyone has been to the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round in Scarborough. I say that I have. She then talks about a thrust stage, and says that ‘one of the best is The Swan in Stratford. Anyone been there?’ Yes, I say again. She goes on, ‘of course it’s partly based on Shakespeare’s Theatre…and then of course there’s the Globe’. She turns to look at me ‘Have you been there too?’ Yes, I reply, shuffling down a bit in my chair. But it seems a bit ridiculous to me. It’s a drama class, and yet I’m sort of apologising for the theatre that I’ve seen!

Comedy tonight

This week at drama, it was time to move on to comedy, working on short improvised scenes that had a farcical element, to longer improvisations which took a turn for the dramatic rather than the comedic. In fact I ended up having a storming row with the other character in my scene, just because of the way it was being played. Ah well, just call me a drama queen.

We then moved on to Commedia dell'Arte, working in pairs, with each playing one of the Commedia stock characters. We were 'Zanni', a couple of wily, and sometimes rather stupid servants, and had to develop, and then perform, a scene using the physicality of the characters. Very difficult, as there's really no such thing as OTT in this type of performance, but, it also has to be controlled, but it was great fun. I've done a bit of Commedia before, at Uni, and love it, as you can really throw yourself into it. After all, it's almost panto season, and panto is based on Commedia. And, it reminds me of being in Venice.

In these halls

‘Would you mind if we go to RSAMD*?’
‘Not at all…after all, David Tennant went there!’

It’s my first visit to Glasgow, and we only have four hours, so not enough time to visit the galleries, so it’s sightseeing and shopping for us, plus a visit to the above building. I’m impressed, it has at least two theatres, is next to another, and is very central, though I’m less sure about the music students singing opera in the corridor, clearly for our benefit.

I pick up the Alumni magazine – it’s full of people like DT, Alan Cumming, Robert Carlyle, James McAvoy, and John Doyle.

‘So, has anyone from your year become well known?’
‘S is doing very well on TV…in Romania.’

Time for a trip to the Willow Tea Rooms, I think.

*Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama

Two households, both alike in dignity

It was my drama class last night. We’ve missed the last two weeks because of half term last week, and then the week before they were opening the new drama studio. Rude, I call it, not to have invited us! It’s called The Cube, and we were supposed to be in there last night, but as the heating wasn’t on, and it was a bit of an ‘Ice’ Cube, it was back to the dining hall for us!

We were doing voice work, and Shakespeare. As the tutor (Kate) said ‘there’s someone here who likes Shakespeare…’ J piped up ‘that’d be Val’. We were doing the Prologue from Romeo and Juliet, one line each, in all different styles, cowboy and horror film being particular highlights!!

During our break…‘It’s so difficult to follow, I wished they’d just give us a few lines from East Enders’

I held my tongue.

Afterwards, we started on Hamlet. Kate said that she’d seen the play 43 times (respect is due, as I tried to tot up how many times I’ve seen it, and only got to about 12). She gave us ‘To be, or not to be’ to learn as homework, (well, up to ‘Ay, there’s the rub’) and I was getting really excited…until I realised that I can’t get to next week’s class, so I won’t get to play Hamlet.

She’s also really keen that we do a play next year, and had two suggestions, one of which, ‘Our Country’s Good’, I would love to do. I think everyone else will go for Willy Russell’s ‘Stags and Hens’ though.

'I believe theatre should be dangerous'

I'm in the first half hour of my new drama workshop evening class, and the tutor is talking about performance. She's a big fan of Brecht and Boal rather than Stanislavski*, and I'm loving listening to someone talk with passion about theatre, and I know that I'm smiling and nodding. I so agree - theatre has to challenge and confront and push at the boundaries.

I didn't know what to expect when signing up for this class, as drama classes are notoriously a bit of a 'mxed bag', but there are 8 of us, 5 women and 3 men, aged, I guess, from late 20's up to 50's. We go round the table, and say what experience we have and our reasons for being here. 3 of us seem to have done significant amounts of drama and acting before, two have done a little, and 3 are absolute beginners. The tutor tells us that she prefers to work with 'raw talent', so, in the 'what have you done' round up, when I say that I have a degree in theatre, film and television, I feel I'm getting the 'why are you here?' look. This is enough to make me feel a little intimidated, and I try to stay in the background for the rest of the session.

We have to fill out our 'learning objectives' and I put down that one of mine is to re-build my confidence in performance. My acting has rather fallen by the wayside since Uni, I've done a couple of pieces with a friend, and a few workshops but nothing more, and I'm dying to do some practical work again. When she mentions a new RSC certificate in Shakespearean Performance, I think I'm beaming!

In the second half of the session, we start with the trust games, to breakdown the barriers with others in the group. We work in pairs, and have to feel each others hands, and then, with eyes closed, have to find our partner just by touch of hands. We have to greet each other in various forms, shaking hands, by hugging, and rubbing noses. We do the trust exercise where one person leans back and trusts that their partner will support them. It's a little scary, but I love it.

Later, I get into my friend's car, waxing lyrical about theatre and drama, and just how much I've missed it, and I'm talking with my hands. It is physically impossible to talk about theatre without using your hands!

*I'm more of a 'Stan' girl myself.