Not too busy over the last couple days...lectures, tutorials, further writing for Philosophy/planning for IR--I've got essays in each. On Wednsday night went to a lecture by the head of the economics department about unusual uses for economics....and slept through it. That post-dinner, pre-night period is still the very bottom of my body cycle. Apparently he talked about single children staying closer to home (hah!) and pressures around being with parents as they got older, and how the government is going to have to pay more for health care etc etc. Tying economics into "everything," sure, but a bit boring for an ''event' lecture.
Thursday night I went with some of my academic family to see a play called "Only The Men" at the Byre, about a man who comes back to the farm he was raised on to tackle his past, particularly his thorny relationship with his father. Very play-ish, with 2 characters, dead father and son, and all sorts of dramatic angst, but done professionaly and quite good.
Then last night my hall had a Halloween party, which was the usual dress-up-and-get-free-booze event. I had no costume until dinner, when Jesse suggested a cereal killer, which I hadn't (consciously) seen or heard before and thought was brilliant. So I came in my long black coat with big spoons in my pockets and ripped boxes of cereal. Hillariously done-before. So that was alright.
Before the party I had a really good rehearsal. In my room, for lack of another space, but my room's big enough that it worked pretty perfectly. We started talking about responsiblity (which is coming up in IR and Philosophy right now and which is a subject I've never given terribly much thought to--what does it mean to be responsible for something or someone?), then I had them walk, examining objects in the room. I wanted to get words into it, so i started having them read outloud out of books I had around so that their reading was overlapping, which had a cool effect. They did various things with the books in terms of reading, and from there I had it split off with people telling stories without reading. I gave them very simple first instructions: "tell a story starting with a description of a glass of water." "There are a mother and daughter in a market in Deli. Go." (this to the Indian girl). The stories and the books then got interwoven into the broader context of physical action and "story arc" of the rehearsal. And at the end, I wasn't completely exhausted.
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2 comments:
Interesting how the American Halloween tradition has become an international costume ball party. I like the cereal killer concept... hadn't heard of it before, tho it is a perfectly obvious pun!
The contrast between two person plays and large ensemble casts is interesting. In "The Seagull" that we saw last weekend there were maybe 20 people in the cast, tho there were probably only six key speaking roles. But the stage was always populated, giving it a different feel. A two person cast can be just as powerful in a play... but not in a movie. Maybe small casts are where plays excel in distinguishing from film?
Brian - This whole damm thing is going too easy for you. It all sounds hideously enriching and upbeat.....and fun....far too much fun. You need a crisis. .....:-) (Don't mind me, I'm just being green!)
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