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Thursday, April 16, 2009
Third day... (Wednesday 15th April)
Hello third day of rehearsals. Hello rubbish campus coffee before we start and gentle chit-chat as we warm up. Hello linoleum-floored studio, smelling ever so slightly of feet and junk shops. Feeling good to begin a day of Postscript-building.
Hello a day of two halves:
To begin, we revisit a new piece of material from yesterday. Lines have been learnt. Rhythms are more familiar. The focus is palpable. Not yet there, but on its way…
Hello lamps, old friends. Extension cables plugged in. Bulbs spring to life – a field of lights in the dark. Workers out. Black out. A table, two chairs, a lamp. Rick and myself. Laura and Pablo place objects on the table in front of us. A miniature playground - touch, feel, play. A music box, a bottle, a piece of red fabric, a stethoscope (also the binoculars and knife; which are played with but later rejected).
Lights up. We play. That doesn’t work, that could work, there’s something there, try that again, and again in like this…
A story begins to form from the moment we both reach for the bottle at the same time… Try another permutation – we both reach for the bottle and I get there first. And again, we both reach, but he gets it and removes it. What is the story of each version? Which do we want to tell?
Lift the lid. The music box plays. I want to dance like the music box dancer (who incidentally isn’t actually there, just the stump where she once was…). Red fabric over my face. I stand on the chair and spin like a music box doll. I think of the part in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang where Truly Scrumptious pretends to be a wind up doll…
We then revisit a piece of material from the work-in-progress of Postscript, also using Rick and myself (archetype - ‘the Lovers’). Are there correlations between this and the new music box fragment? We impose the red material on it. (A connection, an echo, a particle spilt out and lodged in a different story? Or is it the same story?) Permutations: the fabric on the floor as they lean in to embrace; the material on her head removed as she turns away from the embrace; the fabric on her head removed as she reaches away from the embrace… It’s a triptych. But in the world of Postscript, nothing is viewed as a ‘unit’. It needs interrupting. We consider spoken text. We consider story-tapes (‘ping’ to indicate when to turn the page). We consider choose-your-own-adventure books (Turn to page 24 if you want to see Bill meet the monster, or page 50 if you want to see him turn back to the forest). But ultimately, we agree that what should interrupt this triptych may be decided or discovered later. For now what interrupts it is one of those helpful conceptual question marks…(?We like those?)
Hello Afternoon.
An afternoon of Important Discussions.
Bloggable? Blog-worthy? I’m not sure. Let me summarise.
We needed to sit down and brain-storm/mind-map/’bleurgh’ about some of the Big Postscript Questions. Not in order to answer them (yet) but just to ‘have them out’.
What does Postscript look like? Set. Props. Costume. Lighting. We each have a turn (‘In MY head, it looks like this…’ etc). Some different ideas, but essentially we seem to have the same general idea of what the ‘final product’ might ‘be’… Watch this space…
And also – The Audience? The question we knew was implicit in tackling this project. The work-in-progress of Postscript was performed in a small bar, at the audience’s table. The ArtsDepot performance will be in an auditorium, on a stage. We’re adapting/distilling the show in its essence but the audience experience will be entirely different, as dictated by the environment. Is it possible to give them a taste of the intimacy that was created in the work-in-progress in a totally different venue? The material is beginning to stand up alone, so what purpose does ‘implicating’ the audience(through proximity, intimacy and direct involvement and interaction), as we did before, actually serve (if it is even possible?…
Today we achieved something small – a fascinating fragment of the show was formed. And we also faced up to something big – the questions that demand to be addressed through this process, in order to make this project everything we want it to be.
However, I haven’t gone away from today phased, or even scared. I’m really, really excited.
Hello a day of two halves:
To begin, we revisit a new piece of material from yesterday. Lines have been learnt. Rhythms are more familiar. The focus is palpable. Not yet there, but on its way…
Hello lamps, old friends. Extension cables plugged in. Bulbs spring to life – a field of lights in the dark. Workers out. Black out. A table, two chairs, a lamp. Rick and myself. Laura and Pablo place objects on the table in front of us. A miniature playground - touch, feel, play. A music box, a bottle, a piece of red fabric, a stethoscope (also the binoculars and knife; which are played with but later rejected).
Lights up. We play. That doesn’t work, that could work, there’s something there, try that again, and again in like this…
A story begins to form from the moment we both reach for the bottle at the same time… Try another permutation – we both reach for the bottle and I get there first. And again, we both reach, but he gets it and removes it. What is the story of each version? Which do we want to tell?
Lift the lid. The music box plays. I want to dance like the music box dancer (who incidentally isn’t actually there, just the stump where she once was…). Red fabric over my face. I stand on the chair and spin like a music box doll. I think of the part in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang where Truly Scrumptious pretends to be a wind up doll…
We then revisit a piece of material from the work-in-progress of Postscript, also using Rick and myself (archetype - ‘the Lovers’). Are there correlations between this and the new music box fragment? We impose the red material on it. (A connection, an echo, a particle spilt out and lodged in a different story? Or is it the same story?) Permutations: the fabric on the floor as they lean in to embrace; the material on her head removed as she turns away from the embrace; the fabric on her head removed as she reaches away from the embrace… It’s a triptych. But in the world of Postscript, nothing is viewed as a ‘unit’. It needs interrupting. We consider spoken text. We consider story-tapes (‘ping’ to indicate when to turn the page). We consider choose-your-own-adventure books (Turn to page 24 if you want to see Bill meet the monster, or page 50 if you want to see him turn back to the forest). But ultimately, we agree that what should interrupt this triptych may be decided or discovered later. For now what interrupts it is one of those helpful conceptual question marks…(?We like those?)
Hello Afternoon.
An afternoon of Important Discussions.
Bloggable? Blog-worthy? I’m not sure. Let me summarise.
We needed to sit down and brain-storm/mind-map/’bleurgh’ about some of the Big Postscript Questions. Not in order to answer them (yet) but just to ‘have them out’.
What does Postscript look like? Set. Props. Costume. Lighting. We each have a turn (‘In MY head, it looks like this…’ etc). Some different ideas, but essentially we seem to have the same general idea of what the ‘final product’ might ‘be’… Watch this space…
And also – The Audience? The question we knew was implicit in tackling this project. The work-in-progress of Postscript was performed in a small bar, at the audience’s table. The ArtsDepot performance will be in an auditorium, on a stage. We’re adapting/distilling the show in its essence but the audience experience will be entirely different, as dictated by the environment. Is it possible to give them a taste of the intimacy that was created in the work-in-progress in a totally different venue? The material is beginning to stand up alone, so what purpose does ‘implicating’ the audience(through proximity, intimacy and direct involvement and interaction), as we did before, actually serve (if it is even possible?…
Today we achieved something small – a fascinating fragment of the show was formed. And we also faced up to something big – the questions that demand to be addressed through this process, in order to make this project everything we want it to be.
However, I haven’t gone away from today phased, or even scared. I’m really, really excited.
Daisy x
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Second day...
Today, straight to it. No show and tell; no talking; get up and go. Our shared need to ‘do’ perhaps arising from slight aches and pains. It is humbling to realise our bodies are somewhat out of practice, and even better to discover a desire to warm-up property. Oh, the absolute joy of feeling the machinery moving again, of being back in the studio.
We take the morning and early afternoon to revisit the material generated yesterday. Whilst working on the previous version of Postscript I remember Daisy looking to explore ways of layering and texturing: movement, voice, text… Back then this was a sort of afterthought to our initial rehearsals; now, somehow, it is here from the beginning: gestures we used in the work-in-progress, a tut, a cry, a laugh, get up, sit down, fragmentary stories told in 15 lines. What is special about our work today is the process of testing and re-testing endless permutations. Not only are we polishing and clarifying the material, but we are also trying to explore the possible rhythms within it as if it were a musical coda (build, climax, unexpected pause, slow decline towards the end). It is not merely a question of movement and voice, but a conceptual one too. As we move between gestures, getting up to delivering our broken stories, the narratives collide, chase each other, and depart.
In the afternoon we unpack. Funny how the basics for a show can neatly fit into a suitcase and a few bags. In front of us, a collection of familiar objects: the dog mask, the rose, the wine glass, the knife, the cards… We also unpack, metaphorically speaking. I must confess that I was somewhat nervous about returning to the work-in-progress. Perhaps due to the uncertainty of how we would feel about after all this time, perhaps due to a misconstrued lack of confidence in having the right tools to interrogate this old material. However, these apprehensions evaporate, and seem rather petty, as soon as we get to work. It feels right. Whilst revisiting the work-in-progress’ table-actions we find ourselves thinking, again, of archetypes and the most basic plots. It seems that after all they will not be relegated to a hinterland. We are finding our way towards a fully formed question (something which we now understand to be of utmost importance for the work). Something - something… how we read fragments to make up a story… something – something… the power of recognisable symbols… From the start we were aware that the piece had to be tidied up, conceptually speaking. However, it is exciting to be able to take our time: treading gently, investigating every nook and cranny, considering alternative options, trying out every possibility. Somehow, as we sat in the darkness picking apart our table-actions, something at the very back of my mind pondered the differences between our process now and when we created our work-in-progress. This time it is more measured. We are looking closer; digging deeper. Cut, paste, rewind, slow play, pause, fast forward… With this comes an awareness of our creative mechanisms in pulling stories apart or extracting their most basic components. For instance, during our previous phase of rehearsals we found it difficult to generate material under the rubric of a defined story or even a genre. We simply could not operate as freely under such weight. Now, with the help of an understanding of the seven basic plots, we are able to think more associatively. We seem to prefer broader brush strokes; a more impressionistic performance mode. As for our methodology, the quasi-mathematical yet instinctual approach we began exploring last autumn is slowly taking shape. This is our practice. And it rocks!
We take the morning and early afternoon to revisit the material generated yesterday. Whilst working on the previous version of Postscript I remember Daisy looking to explore ways of layering and texturing: movement, voice, text… Back then this was a sort of afterthought to our initial rehearsals; now, somehow, it is here from the beginning: gestures we used in the work-in-progress, a tut, a cry, a laugh, get up, sit down, fragmentary stories told in 15 lines. What is special about our work today is the process of testing and re-testing endless permutations. Not only are we polishing and clarifying the material, but we are also trying to explore the possible rhythms within it as if it were a musical coda (build, climax, unexpected pause, slow decline towards the end). It is not merely a question of movement and voice, but a conceptual one too. As we move between gestures, getting up to delivering our broken stories, the narratives collide, chase each other, and depart.
In the afternoon we unpack. Funny how the basics for a show can neatly fit into a suitcase and a few bags. In front of us, a collection of familiar objects: the dog mask, the rose, the wine glass, the knife, the cards… We also unpack, metaphorically speaking. I must confess that I was somewhat nervous about returning to the work-in-progress. Perhaps due to the uncertainty of how we would feel about after all this time, perhaps due to a misconstrued lack of confidence in having the right tools to interrogate this old material. However, these apprehensions evaporate, and seem rather petty, as soon as we get to work. It feels right. Whilst revisiting the work-in-progress’ table-actions we find ourselves thinking, again, of archetypes and the most basic plots. It seems that after all they will not be relegated to a hinterland. We are finding our way towards a fully formed question (something which we now understand to be of utmost importance for the work). Something - something… how we read fragments to make up a story… something – something… the power of recognisable symbols… From the start we were aware that the piece had to be tidied up, conceptually speaking. However, it is exciting to be able to take our time: treading gently, investigating every nook and cranny, considering alternative options, trying out every possibility. Somehow, as we sat in the darkness picking apart our table-actions, something at the very back of my mind pondered the differences between our process now and when we created our work-in-progress. This time it is more measured. We are looking closer; digging deeper. Cut, paste, rewind, slow play, pause, fast forward… With this comes an awareness of our creative mechanisms in pulling stories apart or extracting their most basic components. For instance, during our previous phase of rehearsals we found it difficult to generate material under the rubric of a defined story or even a genre. We simply could not operate as freely under such weight. Now, with the help of an understanding of the seven basic plots, we are able to think more associatively. We seem to prefer broader brush strokes; a more impressionistic performance mode. As for our methodology, the quasi-mathematical yet instinctual approach we began exploring last autumn is slowly taking shape. This is our practice. And it rocks!
Pablo
Monday, April 13, 2009
First day...
First day…
There’s always things in life that don’t go exactly to plan.
Rehearsals are one of them.
However sometimes the smallest change of plan can lead to unexpected places.
We started with a little show and tell. it’s a nice way to get ideas and thoughts out and moving. Edward Steichen and Cindy Sherman’s photography. Filmic and iconographic images.
We thought of the way that the moments we found for Postscript Mk1 served the same purpose. Maybe now we’re looking at how we can explore those moments, unpack what they’re made of, what stories they tell.
We talked about Booker’s “The Seven Basic Plots”. Overcoming the Monster, Rags to Riches, The Quest, Voyage and Return, Comedy, Tragedy, Rebirth… Is that all there is? Is every narrative just clouded by archetypes of places, ideas, symbols and people?
We wondered if the show we are now setting out to re-make was a visual attempt at Flash fiction… Or a set of Six word stories now begging to be made into Twelve word stories, No-word-but-myriad-of-image-stories... Or perhaps we’ll just be taking these archetypes and putting them in a hinterland space together…
High flown talk indeed. But that’s what first days seem to need…
My carefully written rehearsal plan went out of the window as our props collection was unexpectedly locked in a University building over the bank holiday. No props complicates the first line of my carefully written rehearsal plan. “Unpack and look at all props, lamps, etc…”
Oh well, we just jumped straight in anyway.
Games where we try limit our actions to all but a few like walking, running, jumping, sitting. We found Classic FM on the radio and you can play the game for quite a while and everything goes quite Zen. Add rules where any actions are allowed, try telling a story, trying to create an inner logic. We tried imposing stories to try to enact, but that didn’t work. But when we thought less about particular stories but simply of the Seven Basic Plots with their each particular set of associations the Zen returned…
Sometimes its quite striking when a single image can give you and instant read of the story behind it. Cinderella spotted trying on the glass slipper, Grendel and Beowulf fighting it out, The Very hungry Caterpillar chomping his way through the week…
We returned to some old material we wanted to play about with. We expanded split seconds into whole minutes then cut them in two, which half of the story is important? What happens if one person tells the first half, the other; the second, and a split second in-between by a third. What does that do to the story?
This got us through the rest of the day… what happens when you tell a story in a series of flashes each minutes apart? What happens when four people try to express one story with no words and only 4 actions between them? How much can we give with a limited palette?
What happens if that limited palette is orchestrated by a conductor, baton and all..?
It seems like there’s a lot of questions today…
I think I might have to relax my rehearsal plan a little.
Rick
There’s always things in life that don’t go exactly to plan.
Rehearsals are one of them.
However sometimes the smallest change of plan can lead to unexpected places.
We started with a little show and tell. it’s a nice way to get ideas and thoughts out and moving. Edward Steichen and Cindy Sherman’s photography. Filmic and iconographic images.
We thought of the way that the moments we found for Postscript Mk1 served the same purpose. Maybe now we’re looking at how we can explore those moments, unpack what they’re made of, what stories they tell.
We talked about Booker’s “The Seven Basic Plots”. Overcoming the Monster, Rags to Riches, The Quest, Voyage and Return, Comedy, Tragedy, Rebirth… Is that all there is? Is every narrative just clouded by archetypes of places, ideas, symbols and people?
We wondered if the show we are now setting out to re-make was a visual attempt at Flash fiction… Or a set of Six word stories now begging to be made into Twelve word stories, No-word-but-myriad-of-image-stories... Or perhaps we’ll just be taking these archetypes and putting them in a hinterland space together…
High flown talk indeed. But that’s what first days seem to need…
My carefully written rehearsal plan went out of the window as our props collection was unexpectedly locked in a University building over the bank holiday. No props complicates the first line of my carefully written rehearsal plan. “Unpack and look at all props, lamps, etc…”
Oh well, we just jumped straight in anyway.
Games where we try limit our actions to all but a few like walking, running, jumping, sitting. We found Classic FM on the radio and you can play the game for quite a while and everything goes quite Zen. Add rules where any actions are allowed, try telling a story, trying to create an inner logic. We tried imposing stories to try to enact, but that didn’t work. But when we thought less about particular stories but simply of the Seven Basic Plots with their each particular set of associations the Zen returned…
Sometimes its quite striking when a single image can give you and instant read of the story behind it. Cinderella spotted trying on the glass slipper, Grendel and Beowulf fighting it out, The Very hungry Caterpillar chomping his way through the week…
We returned to some old material we wanted to play about with. We expanded split seconds into whole minutes then cut them in two, which half of the story is important? What happens if one person tells the first half, the other; the second, and a split second in-between by a third. What does that do to the story?
This got us through the rest of the day… what happens when you tell a story in a series of flashes each minutes apart? What happens when four people try to express one story with no words and only 4 actions between them? How much can we give with a limited palette?
What happens if that limited palette is orchestrated by a conductor, baton and all..?
It seems like there’s a lot of questions today…
I think I might have to relax my rehearsal plan a little.
Rick
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Tomorrow and Beginnings (new ones)
Hello All.
Tomorrow, Accidental Collective return to the rehearsal studio. They are taking POSTSCRIPT (as it stands) with them. When they emerge from the rehearsal period in two weeks' time, POSTSCRIPT will be a different (better, exciting, pulse-quickening) performance and ready to show the world (or rather, the audience that will hopefully come to Artsdepot, North Finchley on the 3rd May... http://www.artsdepot.co.uk)
We will endeavour to keep you updated on our progress over the next two weeks. So if you fancy a sneaky peak at our creative processes and our reflections on those processes, do have a look on here. You know us, no holds barred!
All the best,
Goodnight,
Daisy xxx
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Accidental get ACE funding
Hi All blog followers out there!
This is what happened, on the day, as it happened.
Rick has been in charge of emails for the company recently. He tries to be on the ball, though feels like a fish out of water sometimes. (We all have our crosses to bare)
Imagine his surprise when, having updated our potential ACE funders (to whom we'd submitted an application in early January) that we had confirmd an exciting performance date with ArtsDepot, the person who'd been dealing with our application replied quite quickly.
Now, Rick tries not to be a wishful thinker. Nor does he like to be prey to superstition. However, there was a moment between the fateful click of the "open mail" button and the mail actually opening where a flash of "this could be the email that confirms it" and the answer "dont be silly" and a third voice from deep in the depths of the brain says "you'll curse it by thinking about it" answered by a fourth voice or possibly one of the first two voices saying "shut up! dont think about it"
The email was open....
The gist follows...
"Thanks for letting us know, Thats great news (about the fact we're going to perform at Arts Depot)
We'd like to confirm that we've awarded your funding, paperwork's in the post"
Rick gasped, he couldn't breathe.
Rick needed a cigarette.
Rick couldn't get hold of any other Accidentals, so called his girlfriend.
Sensibly she recommended walking round the corner to where Daisy actually worked.
She's not just a pretty face (Rick's girlfriend, not Daisy... not that Daisy's not pretty in the facial department, or infact that she lacks smarts... i just meant to clarify that i was still talking about Rick's girlfriend not Daisy, then I got into abit of a mess... sorry to digress)
Rick stumbled to Daisy's well known high street retailer place of employment round the corner.
Rick had trouble talking, so grabs Daisy in a hug.
Daisy was a little concerned as Rick is shaking a little.
"We got it - from the Arts council"
Daisy Screamed.
Loudly.
Lots of people stared.
There was some jumping up and down (by Daisy and Rick, not the people)
Pub... news spreading, updating of facebook statuses, celebratory Indian meal.
Rick strained something dancing very hard indeed.
What this means for Accidental Collective:
Paid time in the studio to continue developing our recent work "Postscript". We aim to remake it into a piece of work we can tour to small to midscale contemporary theatre venues in England.
Showcase the new piece.
Fund the organisation of a tour.
Accidental Collective are pleased.
As such we shall return to our favourite use of this blog in the very near future; to document and explore how we work when developing and creating material.
After all we are artists - and that is our favourite thing to do
Keep them peeled all!
Rick and ACE funded Accidental Collective
This is what happened, on the day, as it happened.
Rick has been in charge of emails for the company recently. He tries to be on the ball, though feels like a fish out of water sometimes. (We all have our crosses to bare)
Imagine his surprise when, having updated our potential ACE funders (to whom we'd submitted an application in early January) that we had confirmd an exciting performance date with ArtsDepot, the person who'd been dealing with our application replied quite quickly.
Now, Rick tries not to be a wishful thinker. Nor does he like to be prey to superstition. However, there was a moment between the fateful click of the "open mail" button and the mail actually opening where a flash of "this could be the email that confirms it" and the answer "dont be silly" and a third voice from deep in the depths of the brain says "you'll curse it by thinking about it" answered by a fourth voice or possibly one of the first two voices saying "shut up! dont think about it"
The email was open....
The gist follows...
"Thanks for letting us know, Thats great news (about the fact we're going to perform at Arts Depot)
We'd like to confirm that we've awarded your funding, paperwork's in the post"
Rick gasped, he couldn't breathe.
Rick needed a cigarette.
Rick couldn't get hold of any other Accidentals, so called his girlfriend.
Sensibly she recommended walking round the corner to where Daisy actually worked.
She's not just a pretty face (Rick's girlfriend, not Daisy... not that Daisy's not pretty in the facial department, or infact that she lacks smarts... i just meant to clarify that i was still talking about Rick's girlfriend not Daisy, then I got into abit of a mess... sorry to digress)
Rick stumbled to Daisy's well known high street retailer place of employment round the corner.
Rick had trouble talking, so grabs Daisy in a hug.
Daisy was a little concerned as Rick is shaking a little.
"We got it - from the Arts council"
Daisy Screamed.
Loudly.
Lots of people stared.
There was some jumping up and down (by Daisy and Rick, not the people)
Pub... news spreading, updating of facebook statuses, celebratory Indian meal.
Rick strained something dancing very hard indeed.
What this means for Accidental Collective:
Paid time in the studio to continue developing our recent work "Postscript". We aim to remake it into a piece of work we can tour to small to midscale contemporary theatre venues in England.
Showcase the new piece.
Fund the organisation of a tour.
Accidental Collective are pleased.
As such we shall return to our favourite use of this blog in the very near future; to document and explore how we work when developing and creating material.
After all we are artists - and that is our favourite thing to do
Keep them peeled all!
Rick and ACE funded Accidental Collective
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Something to open your appetite...
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Our micro-performance Our Daily Bread (2008) has been selected to be part of Acción Con Hambre. This project is an initiative started by Fran Winberg and is part of the current edition of Madrid Procesos, a platform aiming to support and promote new experimental work and devise new ways for its dissemination www.avam.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=33&id=55&Itemid=113.Our Daily Bread (2008) has therefore joined a growing collection of performance recipes which involve the production and/or consumption of food. This creative 'cookbook' has been published online and will soon appear in a printed edition. To find out more about Acción Con Hambre and to read our recipe please visit www.accionconhambre.blogspot.com/2008/12/our-daily-bread.html.
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