SOME IDEAS

After visiting Chiswick House last week, I just had some ideas that I would like to share with you.

• First of all, I think that a good way to start would be by creating a world. The story itself would be written to ensemble this world. So for example, if we have 4 tribes of different people or creatures, we could create the story according to this tribes relationships, way of living, or by introducing characters from the world we know to this fantastic new one.

• If this idea goes forward, we could have face painting going on in the pre show, where the children would pick one of the 4 tribes. By doing so they would become one of the tribe members in the play, and they would feel they were part of the world.

• Moving on to the use of the garden space, the beautiful white bridge could be a divider of our world to the magical land. The side of the park that is open now would be the mortal side. From this we could create some myths, for example: if any immortal creature from the magical land crosses the bridge they become mortal...

• I definitely think that the bridge requires a love scene. The characters at the very top and the audience watching down by the river. Beautiful, no?

• Also, going back to the tribes, we could have a big selection of actors for each tribe. Even if not all of them have lines they can be doing things in the background that are part of tribe’s every day life. For example, building things, eating, playing, etc. This means that we would probably need to get the second years involved with the acting side of the project.

These are just some ideas... hope you like them.

THE UNIVERSTIY WORKSHOPS

Today we started the university workshops in Alexandra Junior School. As we will have the same group of children every Friday, Rosie and I decided to create a continuous workshop for them. Here is a brief plan of the objectives and activities of the 5 workshops:

CREATING A WORLD

First workshop
Create the land, the name for the land, the people, the tribes, and decide who will become part of each tribe.

Second workshop
Get into tribes and decide the details of each tribe, how they eat, drink, their powers, their job in the land, their clothes, and their relationship with the other tribes...

Third workshop
Get into tribes and create the story of the beginning of the tribe, how it became to exist, any myths, and if it turns out to happen any kind of religious beliefs the tribe would have.

Fourth workshop
Get 2 tribes together and create a story including the 2 cultures.

Fifth workshop
All the tribes together create a story for the land.

From today’s workshop we got some amazing material and very positive results from the children. We started by playing games, but then we explained exactly what we were going to do for the 5 workshops and they were very enthusiastic with the idea.

The land is called MOONAKA

The land has: coconut trees, a long river, grass, trees, a forest, stars, dark colours, animals, sand, a lot of cheese, a big house/tower in the middle, palm trees, 3 moons, a fountain, dark sky, some kind of division in the land, statues, people, ships in the river, river creatures, cheese fairies, a cheese house, a massive guest house, a garden with lots of flowers, mummies in the night, ice cream, when it rains it rains sweets and finally it has blue birds.

Who rules the land: as a democratic decision, Mylee Cyrus became the ruler of the land and lives in an RnB Castle.

The Tribes: there were 25 tribes’ ideas, goblins, soldiers, robots, fairies, elves, witches, aliens, genies, emperors, RnB tribe, cheese tribe, Pokémon, servants, magicians, wizards, ghosts, unicorns, vampires, water nymphs, gangsters, Pikachu’s, Romans, candy tribe, pink panthers and penguins.

After a very hard voting process we decided on 4 tribes, them being the Water Nymphs, the Candy Tribe, the Pink Panthers and the RnB Tribe.

The children were divided into groups and collectively decided which tribe to be. So next week, let the fun begin...

HELICOPTER STORY

In one of our meetings for the big project, the creative team did a workshop with us to find out what kind of ideas we all have for stories. One of the activities, which I find brilliant, was the helicopter story telling. While you come up with a story your partner writes it down and vice versa, then your partner will read your story out loud and the rest of the group will act it while you play the main character, absolutely fantastic. My example:

MARK GRIFFIN’S STORY
There was once a Kangaroo,
Who didn’t know what to do.
When ever he tried to walk
He’s friends would start to talk.

He’d shuffle along the ground
Because he’d never learnt to bound
He was a kangaroo without a bounce
And all he could do was flounce

So he left his hometown tribe
As he waved goodbye he cried,
It’s sad, but just one of those things
If you’re born with feet but no springs

CAROLINA’S STORY
In a far, far away land, Dalila the water nymph loved peeking through Joanna’s (the human girl) window. She found everything about her room very fascinating. Joanna of course was not aware of Dalila’s existence. One day Dalila’s sisters found out what she had been doing and told their father. He was so angry that it started raining. Joanna was very surprised by the fact that it was raining because it was a lovely summer’s day. So that day Joanna wasn’t allowed to play in the garden and Dalila got locked in her room under the river.
The next day when Joanna woke up she found something very unusual under her window, a flower that she’d never seen before. Although she knew she wasn’t allowed to go to the forest, she had to find out where this flower had come from because she’d never seen such beauty.
As she was walking through the woods, she started hearing some noises coming from the riverside and she saw all the water nymphs. She was so surprised that she ran back to her house. The next day when Dalila was realised from her room, she heard the other nymphs talking about the human girl so she decided to knock on her window and from that moment Dalila and Joanna became really good friends.

DREAMISM

I came across the term Dreamism the other day. I had never heard of it, which quite intrigued me. It is a movement like any other, but for the first time it is applied to the present. Usually a movement happens and it is given a name once it is finished. Dreamism is happening now. It consists of various elements from other movements as well as its own elements.

The expression of dream elements and of the unconscious along with the surprise factor, are very specific to Surrealism and also form a big part of Dreamism. Post-modernism contributes with its hyper reality to the birth of this movement and Romanticism adds to the base of Dreamism the fight against scientific rationalization of nature.

Dreamism main political belief is that dreamists can achieve anything they want even if the rest of us do not believe their capability. Once Dreamism becomes acknowledge by people it will be proving itself. Crazy, no?

I PROPOSE A GAME

All you have to do is go to sleep with a notepad and a pen right next to your bed. When you wake up the next morning, grab the notepad and start writing straight away. Very quickly memories of your dreams will come, and you will see, you can remember much more than what you expected. Come back to it a few days later and read it. It is quite fun.

“I know it is a cave, but it is also at the same time a house. There are loads of us, we are running, hiding. Me and someone else stay behind locking the side door. We hear someone coming, it is a woman, she tries to break in but we are holding the door. The door has windows, I am hiding my face, but the girl next to me is not, and the woman threatens her. The girl starts crying and I say: ‘Don’t worry, if you are well prepared is not that bad’.
We all leave the cave house; there are about 30 of us. The tide is coming up, and the ships in the port are all sinking, we have to swim to get to the other side of the sea, and suddenly I am in a hotel, all warm inside a comfy bed. I step out to the back where the swimming pool is, to admire it. It is an amazing swimming pool build of old stone, and there are dolphins. I get closer and look inside; I see a baby whale stuck to the wall, I want to help the baby whale, but it’s too cold. I look down where the sea is and I can see it is packed with whales. There is a man next to me, and I know he is a dangerous man, I know he is the partner of the woman in the cave house, but this time he doesn’t know I am the one he is after. My phone rings, it’s my dad, he says he will take me to school tomorrow, but he wants to talk to the man next to me. I pass the phone.”

ENGLAND V PORTUGAL

Yesterday I had a call from Rosie, as she came back from Newcastle. She was shocked of how no one spoke or smiled at her during the train journey and she said to me: “People in England are so anti social, why did you come here?”

I have been thinking about that question, and I got to the conclusion that is not the important question, I came to study. The important question is: why do I want to stay? And you see, I’m still trying to find out the answer. What I can tell you is, being in England or being in Portugal is all part of my life but they are two parallel worlds. They are not integrated with each other. I am someone in Portugal and someone else in England, that does not mean I am better in one place than the other, and especially it does not mean I prefer who I am in England just because it is where I want to stay. It just happens.
Of course, that having a better career opportunity influences the fact that I want to stay, but I know there is more to it, and I will keep you posted when I find out the answer.

CHISWICK HOUSE

Danielle, Mark and I went to visit Chiswick house yesterday. I was considerably disappointed as most of the garden and house were closed. We did not see much, and the house is going to be for repair until April, which is not very helpful for our project. We will need a lot of time in the space to be able to create good work. The only reason we have to stick with Chiswick House is due to the funds Mark has applied for. As we have not had an answer about this funding I propose we also look at other places to do our project. I had a quick look into the national trust website and found some nice places, such as Osterley Park and House in Isleworth, Morden Hall Park near Wimbledon, and the Red House, which is a little bit more far way (Bexleyheath), but lovely. Please have a look.

RECREATING OLD COMMUNITIES

The idea of community has become vast due to globalisation. But how was it in the past? How was it in a village?

I have been visiting many National Trust properties lately, and there is a specific one in Cornwall that requires a journey to the past. A festival could be developed for that property by recreating the old community of the village and combine it with theatre, music and art

Recreating the village would involve a massive production on costume and props. The investigation of the old community would also be crucial to create the story. There would be a necessity for a very large cast and artists’ crew. The idea is to have around 6 plays, or 6 plots running in a promenade style that have a story connection, which would lead to a big finale by sharing the last scene together.

During these performances musicians and street artists would be around the village playing music or doing portraits of audience members, the same way it used to be done at the time we are recreating. There could also be a street art craft fair, selling all kinds of things of that era.
I imagine this project to have a length of approximately 4 days, having camping fields were the audience could stay at night.

Anyone interested in the Cornwall Festival?

UTOPIAN WORLD

How amazing it is to think about the infinite possibilities that you can have in a utopian world. At the same time utopia can be very dangerous, it can also be very beautiful. Many lives have been destroyed in the name of utopia, making it become very unpopular. But also good things were done, like Ghandi’s violence strikes.

For me, the best part of it is the fact that utopia does not have to be realistic. The thought of exploring dreams and nightmares, and re-creating those, links generously with a utopian world idea. Can we change the word utopia into a positive and fascinating word? I think we should try.

SPONTANEITY

I was wondering what could make us be spontaneous at times, and I got to the conclusion that it has to be much related to the general need of escapism. Escaping of the everyday routine is essential to everyone. Being spontaneous makes us have moments of happiness and adrenaline. And then these moments will give us energy to return to that same routine with a bit more courage and liveliness.

I had one of these moments very recently. It does not happen very often ending in South Hampton, when the decision to be made is “where do we go for a pint?” after a rehearsal, especially when you really need the toilet. It turned out that we spent the night writing poems together and then we went to the New Forest where we saw wild horses and dears. It was so magical and amazing that it made me think about spontaneity and how important it is.
The magic of the wild animals, the stars, the sounds and also the fear of being in an unknown place in the dark, boosted me so powerfully that I can still feel it today. All I can do is hope that you all have these moments.

Where were you when it happened?
So deep in the dark, dark night
When the moon did not shine,
No one could see the starts or the sky!
And the sea cried to be left in the dark of itself.
And all mermaids joined the song,
And they sang into the night,
With open hearts that told the truths of their love,
And happiness was re-born.
But let’s hope it is not the only time
Because time is all we have left.