Ghost Tour!!
7pm...we went to Ham House to be told the very legends that still linger here today. We aproached the house from the front which sat there in darkness, only lit by candles in a few of the windows. The weather was hideous which only added to the atmosphere. Now of course we were expecting things to jump out at us and to be frightened this way, but the emphasis was on the language in the stories we heard tonight and the way they told them.
Both men had very different attributes to their storytelling that both worked equally as well. The first volunteer, Ken took us around the house and his storytelling was so inspiring due to the content in his stories. The language flowed incredibly well without a sense that he had learnt from a script. The second volunteer was Raymond who took us around the gardens. The success of his storytelling were due to the methods he implied to tell them. He created an atmosphere of unease with the use of dramatic pauses and with his naturally soft voice. He posed questions to the group throughout the tour. What is a ghost? Why are we scared of ghosts? Which he answered with the fact that we as humans do not like the unexpected and unknown and if there's something we can't explain this phases us. Raymond ended the tour beautifully with his own personal touch, saying that the only real ghost is the house itself.
I am so glad we came on this tour as not only do we know even more about the house but we can now take these storytelling ideas and implement them in our own work. The atmosphere they created just by themselves was incredible so I can only imagine what we can do.
Zoe x
Friday, 13 November 2009
Friday 06.11.09
Tonight we ventured into central London to see a very special performance by a very special lady, Jennifer Davies. I had quite a stressful journey with Jack and Scotty as we were running a bit late, so Scotty thought it would be tactical to keep changing our route at every stop. Jack warned me if we didn't follow instructions he would sulk the whole way! So we eventually got to our destination Highbury and Islington at 7.28, we thought 'Great it's just down here'. So we took a brisk walk, IN THE POURING RAIN but couldn't find it. After a long 10 minutes and running back and forth we finally found it after Jenny came to find us with a skimpy white dress on with the classic milk bottles out!!
The night was arranged by Tanya's lil' sis Jess Morgan and was called 'Sit with Art'. There were many photographs and canvas's dotted around the room with a large canvas behind the DJ set of clouds in a very blue sky; at least it was sunny inside. Tan was serving tea and cup cakes at the front which were absolutely gorge! After listening to a DJ set we sat down to listen to some poetry and heard about some art. Then Jess left the stage and Jenny entered with stripey socks, high heels, a straw hat and a hilarious dress as if she was late for an interview. She had written the comedic set herself which was so funny and ended with her revealing her whip from her bag and saying 'right, get on your knees!' Jennie, once again a fantastic solo performance and I look forward to seeing you again soon as you clearly have found your niche!
We then stayed to hear Jess sing her little heart out with some beautiful song choices. Her voice is so pure (although with a husky voice from being ill) and is so relaxing to listen to, she should really record her work as the majority of us said we would happily buy her CD!
A lovely evening with the drama lot :)
xx
The night was arranged by Tanya's lil' sis Jess Morgan and was called 'Sit with Art'. There were many photographs and canvas's dotted around the room with a large canvas behind the DJ set of clouds in a very blue sky; at least it was sunny inside. Tan was serving tea and cup cakes at the front which were absolutely gorge! After listening to a DJ set we sat down to listen to some poetry and heard about some art. Then Jess left the stage and Jenny entered with stripey socks, high heels, a straw hat and a hilarious dress as if she was late for an interview. She had written the comedic set herself which was so funny and ended with her revealing her whip from her bag and saying 'right, get on your knees!' Jennie, once again a fantastic solo performance and I look forward to seeing you again soon as you clearly have found your niche!
We then stayed to hear Jess sing her little heart out with some beautiful song choices. Her voice is so pure (although with a husky voice from being ill) and is so relaxing to listen to, she should really record her work as the majority of us said we would happily buy her CD!
A lovely evening with the drama lot :)
xx
Monday, 9 November 2009
Wednesday 28.10.09
Well, well, well. Today was jam packed with theatre! After a very productive rehearsal this morning for Physical Approaches to Playtext and then onto the first year group meeting of the year, I met my Mother Cathy and Sister Jodie for a matinee in Richmond. The journey there in Mother's car was ... interesting. We were bickering anyway because Cathy was late again and her driving isn't exactly what you'd call calm. I was in the front and Jodie was squeezed in the back with a fridge and a microwave (my Mother loves getting her bargains from the Friday ad...even when we have 2 fridge freezers and a spare microwave already) but the next thing Cathy said actually surprised me. "Oh...I forgot that pheasant was there" I looked down to my feet and saw a plastic bag with feathers poking out the end. I had been standing on road kill. "How long's that been there mum?!" She casually responded, "Oh, just since Monday" It was now Wednesday. Anyway, so I settled down at approximately 2.30pm in the Richmond Theatre to watch Rainman starring Neil Morrissey. The title for my dissertation is "How can Play help the autistic child?" so I thought it would help me to see this performance. Now I hadn't really thought about how I would feel watching an able actor playing a special needs person, and when Neil Morrissey first came on stage as Raymond it was quite a shock to see the transformation, and I wasn't quite sure how to take it. However after the first few moments I realised that he played it so sensitively and realistically that I just saw Babbitt for who he was. Morrissey had clearly spent a lot of time watching the traits and habits of adults on the autistic spectrum as it came across as such an honest and open performance. It was lovely! It was a very good set visually with a wall that moved across the stage with one door. As the walls were slided across the stage the door moved along as well representing different rooms. This is something that might be useful to think about in our Christmas activities for one of the short stories as we don't have a lot of room. So I thoroughly enjoyed Rainman.
In the evening I watched Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter by 2 of the 2nd years. There wasn't much of an audience which was disappointing but it was very well done. Simple set and the actors were good. Beg my pardon for not knowing his name but I always love watching the Scottish one perform. He is so versatile.
So all in all a very dramatic day :)
In the evening I watched Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter by 2 of the 2nd years. There wasn't much of an audience which was disappointing but it was very well done. Simple set and the actors were good. Beg my pardon for not knowing his name but I always love watching the Scottish one perform. He is so versatile.
So all in all a very dramatic day :)
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
Wed 21.10.09 21.36pm
So I found out she didn't have nightmares last night but still crept to her parents room in the night. But it's a start :)
Zx
Zx
Wed 21.10.09 11.12am
"And people who believe in God think God has put human beings on earth because they think human beings are the best animal, but human beings are just an animal and they will evolve into another animal, and that animal will be cleverer and it will put human beings into a zoo, like we put chimanzees and gorillas into a zoo. Or human beings will all catch a disease and die out or they will make too much pollution and kill themselves, and then there will only be insects in the world and they will be the best animal" The Curious Incident of the Dog in the night-time
Mark Haddon
Mark Haddon
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
Tuesday 20.10.09 22.12pm
3 times a week I pick up a little girl from school and take her home to do her homework and any additional tutoring. The family moved to England from Poland when she was 4 so English is not spoken at home. She is now 8. She is an only child so the only English interaction she has at home is when I am there. She is a very intelligent child and is very good at telling porkies...I started working with her back in January. Her birthday was very soon after I had first met her. She had told me she was going to 9 years old and I had made a conscious effort to make sure I had got the right date, the right age etc. You know, I wanted to make a good impression with her. So I bought one of those 'Happy 9th Birthday' cards and a little present. Only when she opened the card in front of me and said thank you, I wondered what the smirk on her face was about. She stood it up on her desk just before her mum came in. "Mummy mummy, look what Zoe got me..." Mum then looked at the card I had got her, Oh Zoe, she's 8 today not 9! I thought you little shit!
Anyway, that wasn't the point of this blog. I wanted to tell you about the work I did with her today. She hasn't been sleeping well for 3 months now. It doesn't matter how tired she is or how much she has done during the day, every night she creeps into her Mum and Dad's room and asks to sleep with them, or they are awakened at early hours of the morning from her screaming. Last night was apparently the worst night she had had. 3 hours sleep they all ended up with. Every 20 minutes she was screaming. It doesn't help that the mother has given in for 3 months and let her sleep in their bed. So I decided to try and do something about it today. I sat her down in the play room and asked to draw a picture of what she felt like when she first wakes up in the night. It was a picture of a house with no windows or doors, just a roof and a bed that she was asleep on. There was a picture of a burgular running outside to get into the house and then another leaning over her bed. I asked her to write down 3 sentances of how she felt at this time. 1. I dreamed that burgulars were coming to get me. 2. I dreamed of someone getting Mummy, Wojtek (Her Step-father) and me. 3. I felt scared. I asked her why she thinks she feels like this and she couldn't tell me really apart from that she felt unsafe. I explained that she shouldn't feel unsafe as she lives in a neighbourhood watch area, she has doubled glazing on every window and door, the doors are locked at night and during the day when they are in the house, and every window is shut at night. She talked about the Police and how they do their job very well as she saw them arresting someone the other day. I then asked her if she knew that she had a Guardian Angel who watches over her at night. She said she had heard of this but wasn't sure if she believed it. I said if she didn't believe in her, then her angel might get upset and she didn't want to make her upset. She said she had lots of teddies as well that come alive at night so I said they would warn anyone off as well. After all of this I said could she draw a picture of how she feels now about the whole thing. The picture was of a house with windows and doors with the same bed and her asleep in the bed. There was the burgular running to the house but no burgular in the house. There was also an angel above all of this with wings and a halo and a speech bubble saying "I'm here". Without any prompting, she folded the previous picture up and put it in the bin.
I am picking her up from school tomorrow so I wonder how she will sleep tonight!
Anyway, that wasn't the point of this blog. I wanted to tell you about the work I did with her today. She hasn't been sleeping well for 3 months now. It doesn't matter how tired she is or how much she has done during the day, every night she creeps into her Mum and Dad's room and asks to sleep with them, or they are awakened at early hours of the morning from her screaming. Last night was apparently the worst night she had had. 3 hours sleep they all ended up with. Every 20 minutes she was screaming. It doesn't help that the mother has given in for 3 months and let her sleep in their bed. So I decided to try and do something about it today. I sat her down in the play room and asked to draw a picture of what she felt like when she first wakes up in the night. It was a picture of a house with no windows or doors, just a roof and a bed that she was asleep on. There was a picture of a burgular running outside to get into the house and then another leaning over her bed. I asked her to write down 3 sentances of how she felt at this time. 1. I dreamed that burgulars were coming to get me. 2. I dreamed of someone getting Mummy, Wojtek (Her Step-father) and me. 3. I felt scared. I asked her why she thinks she feels like this and she couldn't tell me really apart from that she felt unsafe. I explained that she shouldn't feel unsafe as she lives in a neighbourhood watch area, she has doubled glazing on every window and door, the doors are locked at night and during the day when they are in the house, and every window is shut at night. She talked about the Police and how they do their job very well as she saw them arresting someone the other day. I then asked her if she knew that she had a Guardian Angel who watches over her at night. She said she had heard of this but wasn't sure if she believed it. I said if she didn't believe in her, then her angel might get upset and she didn't want to make her upset. She said she had lots of teddies as well that come alive at night so I said they would warn anyone off as well. After all of this I said could she draw a picture of how she feels now about the whole thing. The picture was of a house with windows and doors with the same bed and her asleep in the bed. There was the burgular running to the house but no burgular in the house. There was also an angel above all of this with wings and a halo and a speech bubble saying "I'm here". Without any prompting, she folded the previous picture up and put it in the bin.
I am picking her up from school tomorrow so I wonder how she will sleep tonight!
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
Wed 15.10.09 23.51pm
I attended Amici wokshop this evening at the Lyric in Hammersmith with a few of the students from DIC. Amici is a Dance Theatre Company that works with disabled and able bodied performers. It was a drop in session tonight where anyone could turn up (you usually have to be a member to participate) and when they were only expecting 20 people there were over 50 dancers tonight. The 2 hours was focused around improvising in small groups and bigger groups. One dance I particularly enjoyed was with a blind woman aged around 60. She was one of the happiest people I have ever improvised with; I say this as when she first finds your touch her face lights up as you can clearly see how much she enjoys the intimacy. At one point I closed my eyes too and we were just responding to each others touch and working from impulse. This dance was slower than with others as you had to listen to each others movements. After a while we even explored giving and recieving weight but it all finished too quickly. The whole evening is based around chance...anyone can be chosen and anyone can shout out the number of people dancing next or which song number to dance to.
There was another performer that was really inspiring. It was a girl of around 20 with Down Syndrome. She was a fantastic dancer as she was so sensitve to the others. She did a trio with a boy in a wheelchair and Christine (blind lady) and I couldn't take my eyes off her. She was making eye contact so nicely between the two and created such a vivid story that we all related to.
We found out that Tina is working on their next show with them in June. There is a long waiting list to join the company so Wolfgang (the director) said we could pop in and out ocasionally to join in seeing as we know Tina ;). I would love to carry on visiting this company and dancing with them.
Zx
There was another performer that was really inspiring. It was a girl of around 20 with Down Syndrome. She was a fantastic dancer as she was so sensitve to the others. She did a trio with a boy in a wheelchair and Christine (blind lady) and I couldn't take my eyes off her. She was making eye contact so nicely between the two and created such a vivid story that we all related to.
We found out that Tina is working on their next show with them in June. There is a long waiting list to join the company so Wolfgang (the director) said we could pop in and out ocasionally to join in seeing as we know Tina ;). I would love to carry on visiting this company and dancing with them.
Zx
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
