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004
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red eye / fringe
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following:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/oct/08/fringe-theatre-actors-career-path (article, links and final comment)
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Rehearsing tonight I had a striking experience.
The final hour of rehearsal ran between 22.30 - 23.30, it was the only time that I could get the actors in the room together (rehearsing a cast of 18 is a total nightmare logistically). As I sat down to rehearse the scene I realized the actor I was working with had bloodshot eyes - the same as I did.
This weekend is a heavy one for me - I rehearsed till 23.30 tonight I'm back in at 10.00 - 18.00 tomorrow then onto the "day" job for 5-6 hrs of rigging, after as much sleep as I can get I then have to tech/dress three one hour Shakespeare productions.
Looking at the actor I realized that I just had to suck it up because whatever her circumstances were she was working just as hard as me.
As I thought back across rehearsal period I realized that there was only one performer that wasn't working a full time day job as well as this project.
In the article Anthony Alderson sings the praises of the fringe as a place of artistic creation. We must be acknowledge and be proud of this.
But more than this all those of us who are out there making the fringe work should be proud that we endure and stay with it when it would be so easy and understandable if we quit and went home to bed. We're tough fuckers (in a privileged first world society kind-of-way)and we should be proud, (and whilst I will be happy to be corrected by anyone who knows better) I don't believe it was this tough for the last couple of generations of theatre makers that came before us.
I'm 26 and I've given myself four years to make decent progress in this industry and if I don't I'll quit - you have to be realistic - this won't pay a mortgage.
Whether I succeed or not I will always be happy and proud I tried.
@georgemaddocks director
Friday 18 February 2011
Monday 14 February 2011
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003
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big soc. / theatre
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following:
http://blogs.channel4.com/gurublog/is-the-big-society-a-small-idea/758
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2011/02/they_love_it_th.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2011/feb/14/politics-live-blog#block-18
http://www.theatrepeckham.co.uk/videos.php
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I spent 2009 - 10 working for a organization called Theatre Peckham.
Theatre Peckham is based in the Sceaux Gardens estate in Peckham/Camberwell. In 2009 as we were running a technical rehearsal I went outside to take a call. Stood outside I heard a window smash and saw smoke coming from the nearby block of flats. What was happening was the Lakanal House fire. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Lakanal_House_tower_block_fire
That night as we ran the show that we had been rehearsing, the artistic director stood up to say a few words. She explained that for her the events of the day showed why Theatre Peckham does what it does. It was, she said: "about community".
Later in 2009 myself and a colleague helped a group of the older kids set up their own production company and write and perform their first play. They got five thousand pounds from Southwark Councils Youth Opportunities fund which went back into the production. Myself and my colleague gave our time for free - it was good experience for us both and we learnt from them as much as they learnt from us.
Was all of this the Big Society? yes it was.
The unpleasant truth is that we cannot just deride the Big Society as an unworkable excuse to justify the cuts. it could and may yet work - working for free has taught me a great deal about myself and about life over the years and (I hope) done some good for the people around me as well. Its been a tremendously positive influence on me and one I would gladly repeat any time.
The crucial error that the Conservatives and David Cameron have made is to buy into the free market rhetoric of the state stifling all innovation, slowing things down and hindering society. What they fail to see the distinction between Local government (which often does all of those things) - and the end organizations that provide for the community with local government money. Theatre Peckham, The Blue Elephant Theatre, Oval House, Peckham Shed, STEP (to name but a few!). These are dynamic organizations that don't have the time, money or inclination to be inefficient. They put up with local government till they get the funding they need and then they go about making a difference to peoples lives.
If the Conservatives want to promote innovation, speed up progress and help people better they should get to grips with local government - not by devolving more power to them but by taking responsibility for what they do and setting out clear objectives to dealing with the endemic waste and inefficiency that is prevalent.
If they want to promote the Big Society then they should strictly ensure that any money not needed to appease the credit markets goes straight back to community organizations that have been forming and maintaining the Big Society for decades.
Cameron has launched the Big Society three times now, each time it bombs with both the electorate and his party and damages him. He keeps trying because for all his faults he is fundamentally a conservative centrist and he wants the Big Society to free us from the state. What this government is yet to understand is that the Big Society already exists and it cares as little about the state as he does.
What it needs is money.
003
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big soc. / theatre
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following:
http://blogs.channel4.com/gurublog/is-the-big-society-a-small-idea/758
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2011/02/they_love_it_th.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2011/feb/14/politics-live-blog#block-18
http://www.theatrepeckham.co.uk/videos.php
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I spent 2009 - 10 working for a organization called Theatre Peckham.
Theatre Peckham is based in the Sceaux Gardens estate in Peckham/Camberwell. In 2009 as we were running a technical rehearsal I went outside to take a call. Stood outside I heard a window smash and saw smoke coming from the nearby block of flats. What was happening was the Lakanal House fire. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Lakanal_House_tower_block_fire
That night as we ran the show that we had been rehearsing, the artistic director stood up to say a few words. She explained that for her the events of the day showed why Theatre Peckham does what it does. It was, she said: "about community".
Later in 2009 myself and a colleague helped a group of the older kids set up their own production company and write and perform their first play. They got five thousand pounds from Southwark Councils Youth Opportunities fund which went back into the production. Myself and my colleague gave our time for free - it was good experience for us both and we learnt from them as much as they learnt from us.
Was all of this the Big Society? yes it was.
The unpleasant truth is that we cannot just deride the Big Society as an unworkable excuse to justify the cuts. it could and may yet work - working for free has taught me a great deal about myself and about life over the years and (I hope) done some good for the people around me as well. Its been a tremendously positive influence on me and one I would gladly repeat any time.
The crucial error that the Conservatives and David Cameron have made is to buy into the free market rhetoric of the state stifling all innovation, slowing things down and hindering society. What they fail to see the distinction between Local government (which often does all of those things) - and the end organizations that provide for the community with local government money. Theatre Peckham, The Blue Elephant Theatre, Oval House, Peckham Shed, STEP (to name but a few!). These are dynamic organizations that don't have the time, money or inclination to be inefficient. They put up with local government till they get the funding they need and then they go about making a difference to peoples lives.
If the Conservatives want to promote innovation, speed up progress and help people better they should get to grips with local government - not by devolving more power to them but by taking responsibility for what they do and setting out clear objectives to dealing with the endemic waste and inefficiency that is prevalent.
If they want to promote the Big Society then they should strictly ensure that any money not needed to appease the credit markets goes straight back to community organizations that have been forming and maintaining the Big Society for decades.
Cameron has launched the Big Society three times now, each time it bombs with both the electorate and his party and damages him. He keeps trying because for all his faults he is fundamentally a conservative centrist and he wants the Big Society to free us from the state. What this government is yet to understand is that the Big Society already exists and it cares as little about the state as he does.
What it needs is money.
Friday 11 February 2011
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002
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nokia wp7 / theatretech 110211
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following: http://gizmodo.com/#!5757649/nokia-and-microsoft-are-officially-new-bffs
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Nokia joining with Windows five years ago would surely have been a geeks violent wet dream (provided of course Windows had released WP7 back then #geek #notashamed) but now it feels more like a plucky move from two companies on the slide.
Theatre? We'll get there, I promise.
Nokia's got incredible hardware Microsoft unparalleled software but they both have a neutered internet presence and are playing serious catchup.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12343597 - Bing may be standard on Nokias WP7 carrying kit - thats a serious hindrance, practically its a crap ver. of Google which ubergeeks are already noting is not hugely efficient.
The future is online and as a consequence the battle is over who can get you online best and how well online syncs with your device.
Which brings us to theatre - I'm currently directing a radio play - its got a cast of 18+ - all significant parts that need to be rehearsed and whats more rehearsed a couple of times each in big groups.
Casting and scheduling have been a huge task, and all have been done using GMail and the Google App's suite - we share a online calendar, all documents are shared between me and the producer using docs and obviously everything else is handled by the e-mail app.
Our hardware is total dogshit - 2 x Toshiba Satellite Pros - one on XP one on Ubuntu Linux - but it doesn't matter as long as we can get them online all the processing and system strain is taken up there. We've achieved with these machines what could only have been done with small server or networked NAS in the past - and even then only with some serious IT capabilities.
We could run an office with these apps - and its all free.
The one piece of good kit I have is my HTC Desire/Android2.2 - I'm using it as a 3G Dongle right now. It effortlessly syncs with the Google App's - and means I'm 95% on top of my shit 100% of the time.
Word gets around - I had a minor altercation on FB aggressively advising someone on phones the other day (I'm a bit of a cock like that) but the majority view fell with me that Android and HTC were the way forward - industry's pick up on these things. If a tech adverse industry like theatre is starting to realize that Android/Google/HTC is the way forward you can rest assured that the rest of the word has known for a while.
What all this means is better rehearsals, happier casts, more focus on the art, which ultimately is the whole point.
002
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nokia wp7 / theatretech 110211
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
following: http://gizmodo.com/#!5757649/nokia-and-microsoft-are-officially-new-bffs
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nokia joining with Windows five years ago would surely have been a geeks violent wet dream (provided of course Windows had released WP7 back then #geek #notashamed) but now it feels more like a plucky move from two companies on the slide.
Theatre? We'll get there, I promise.
Nokia's got incredible hardware Microsoft unparalleled software but they both have a neutered internet presence and are playing serious catchup.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12343597 - Bing may be standard on Nokias WP7 carrying kit - thats a serious hindrance, practically its a crap ver. of Google which ubergeeks are already noting is not hugely efficient.
The future is online and as a consequence the battle is over who can get you online best and how well online syncs with your device.
Which brings us to theatre - I'm currently directing a radio play - its got a cast of 18+ - all significant parts that need to be rehearsed and whats more rehearsed a couple of times each in big groups.
Casting and scheduling have been a huge task, and all have been done using GMail and the Google App's suite - we share a online calendar, all documents are shared between me and the producer using docs and obviously everything else is handled by the e-mail app.
Our hardware is total dogshit - 2 x Toshiba Satellite Pros - one on XP one on Ubuntu Linux - but it doesn't matter as long as we can get them online all the processing and system strain is taken up there. We've achieved with these machines what could only have been done with small server or networked NAS in the past - and even then only with some serious IT capabilities.
We could run an office with these apps - and its all free.
The one piece of good kit I have is my HTC Desire/Android2.2 - I'm using it as a 3G Dongle right now. It effortlessly syncs with the Google App's - and means I'm 95% on top of my shit 100% of the time.
Word gets around - I had a minor altercation on FB aggressively advising someone on phones the other day (I'm a bit of a cock like that) but the majority view fell with me that Android and HTC were the way forward - industry's pick up on these things. If a tech adverse industry like theatre is starting to realize that Android/Google/HTC is the way forward you can rest assured that the rest of the word has known for a while.
What all this means is better rehearsals, happier casts, more focus on the art, which ultimately is the whole point.
Thursday 10 February 2011
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001
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function of bloggers - 110211
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Following - http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2011/feb/10/bloggers-review-previews-theatre - http://distantaggravation.blogspot.com/2011/02/i-could-have-screamed-but-instead-i.html - http://oughttobeclowns.blogspot.com/2011/02/response-to-matt-trueman.html - http://parabasis.typepad.com/blog/2011/02/reviewing-previews.html
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Impassioned and interesting debate re. the practice of reviewing previews. Little to be added save this -
It is pernicious to attempt to apply a code of conduct, or indeed any form of standards or structure to the process of reviewing over the internet. The choice rests with the reader. As a example - I knew that I would not like Spiderman: Turn off the Dark after this http://parabasis.typepad.com/blog/2011/01/spider-man-turn-off-the-dark.html Whereas I knew it would be unlikely to be judged as excellent by a more mainstream audience after this: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-reviews/8306871/Spider-Man-Turn-off-the-Dark-the-not-so-super-hero-of-Broadway.html -
The internet revolution allowed us to become our own editors - we must trust audiences to do this.
Why this is important is better explained through the work of Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw on videogames over at The Escapist. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/1968-Viewers-Choice-Duke-Nukem-Forever By being cynically honest (although obviously passionate about the industry he reviews) Yahtzee gives a accurate run-down of the standards of the games he reviews - fanboys, developers and industry PR don't appreciate the lack of hype - but for a particular end reader (who is none of the above) his work punctures a industry that for too long has been self referential and wildly inaccurate about its products.
Internet blogging must remain a free market to allow a free narrative to permeate - as soon as we decide to start trying to impose practices upon each others blogs (however noble and well meaning we are) we are taking a step towards neutering the very thing that makes the internet and blogging important.
We must trust the readers judgement, otherwise we end up with this anachronistic horseshit: http://www.thedaily.com/
Thanks
@georgemaddocks
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