We had some wonderful news this week when Belt Up was listed amongst the ‘must-see shows’ in the Guardian’s fringe preview this week. This was hugely complimentary considering that in the list we were rubbing shoulders with the likes of ‘Frantic Assembly’, ‘The Wooster Group’ and ‘Ontoerend Goed’. In 2008, when we set up Belt Up Theatre, we never expected that just over two years down the line we’d be considered alongside some of the companies that we greatly admire.
Most surprising however was one of the comments in response to this article. The Guardian website comment section is a great platform for some good discussion but occasionally you get a few numbskulls. One poster took a bit of a swing at Belt Up accusing us of being ‘establishment’ and then questioned why a professional company were at the fringe. I responded to their post, naturally, with a swift rebuttal – they were under the belief that we were receiving massive amounts of state subsidy, we are not, not even anywhere close.
Despite the poster being a bit of moron, I thought they did bring up a few interesting points. Why are we at the fringe? We’re also at the Edinburgh International Festival this year, the very festival that the fringe is on the ‘fringe’ of, doing a Behind the Scenes workshop of a new version of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. So why, when we’re included as part of the curated festival are we also on the fringe?
As a little bit of history, the Edinburgh International Festival was set up in 1947 to raise morale and so on, the same year a handful of theatre companies, not part of the festival decided to go to Edinburgh and perform anyway, and so the Fringe was born. A few years later when the Fringe Society was set up, the constitution clearly stated that there would be no vetting as to what and who was allowed to be included as part of the Fringe. It’s not a case of the Fringe being a response to the ‘establishment’ or anything it is just simply an open access policy,
This is its beauty. It’s because of this that I now work in theatre. In 2008 a group of second year university students calling themselves ‘Belt Up (nothing to see/hear)’ were allowed to take over a hotel function room, turn it into a Victorian boudoir and put on a silly amount of plays. If that idea had been pitched to any sensible person then they would have laughed in our faces. It was in that year that we picked up the Edinburgh International Festival award – an award to strengthen links between the EIF and the Fringe.
This year a group of professional theatre people calling themselves ‘Belt Up Theatre’ have been allowed to take over a massive burnt out room, turn it into a house and put on an even sillier amount of plays. We’re a lot more established than we were in 2008, we’ve had a lot more critical reception, more awards and stuff but I still reckon that if we pitched this idea to any sensible people then they’d still laugh in our faces. That’s what’s so brilliant about the Fringe; it allows very non-sensible people to do whatever the hell they like. We took on a massive amount of risk at the fringe in 2008 and this year we’re matching if not increasing that risk. We’re still riding the wave from the payoff of that 2008 risk so who knows where we’ll be 2 years down the line after this year’s.
So in answer to that poster’s question, what’s a professional company doing at the fringe? We’re going there to do things that we wouldn’t be allowed to do anywhere else. The fringe is a massive crucible for art and is something that has been invaluable in our development both professionally and artistically.
Sunday 11 July 2010
Wednesday 7 July 2010
Rehearsing with the lead part missing...
We're about 5 days in to our rehearsal schedule. With 10 shows to rehearse (the 9 shows for The House Above and Dracula for EIF) our schedule for this month is a masterpiece of excel genius.
For the type of work we do however, our rehearsals always have a very large hole in them. When making theatre in which the audience play a vital role we're constantly saying 'the audience could do this...' or 'what if the audience did this...' or 'why can't the audience do this...' or my favourite 'what the hell do we do if the audience do this...'. It sounds terrifying to essentially rehearse with a major part of the show undecided until the magical 'moment' but this really is what I find energising and exciting. Last November when we did a run of 'The Trial' at the Southwark Playhouse, we could never have planned for dealing with 50 grown adults, running around, blindfolded in the dark and then scaling the walls - in honesty we assumed that common sense would prevail and people would be aware of the terrifying dangers of doing this... whilst blindfolded. When this happened it was a heart stopping moment but we managed to keep on top of it, we just had to run and climb a little bit faster and of course we had the advantage of not being blindfolded.
For this reason, a lot of our rehearsal time is devoted to improvisational skills and spontaneity. It's impossible to plan how to deal with every scenario and so instead we train ourselves to be able to deal with any scenario extremely quickly. This means that the audience should get a greater freedom - though you always get a few scarier members. We were once asked whether the audience were allowed to stab eachother in our shows because we'd taken away the fourth wall and invited them into another world. This of course is not the case because fictional world or not, the real world laws still apply. However this does highlight an interesting point about rules. Once you take away the stalls, fourth wall, interval drinks etc, you've taken away the conventions. With convention comes familiarity, you know you take your seat, watch a play and clap at the end. Without the convention, you lose the familiarity, you lose the recognisable rules. This is where there is a major danger zone when creating work of this nature; Unless you as the artists know what the rules are then you can't expect the audience to. In the vital early rehearsals (which we've just come out of) we always make the point of establishing these rules - if the audience are allowed to interrupt scenes then how do they know when to do it? How do we tell them they can't? How do we let them take an active role in some parts and not others? All these questions are answered just so there is a very firm structure in which the audience are allowed to play freely. Non conventional theatre shouldn't be synonymous with anarchy; it's got to have a different set of rules.
More often than not, you can build these structures but an audience will always find holes in it, it's important to catch them before they see the 'strings' but it's these moments that make the structure stronger for the next show.
We always say that we can't do dress rehearsals because aside from fussing over directors and stage managers to the point of harassment, there's just no way of properly rehearsing audience interaction. This isn't a negative point whatsoever; it's the most exciting part of my job. That first performance with an audience is terrifying because it's the test, it's that moment where you see if this lovely ship you've been building is watertight (I like that analogy) and it's so rewarding when you find it is... it's also that bit more rewarding when the audience jump at your invitations and surprise you in a way you'd never think logically possible. That's what makes these rehearsals exciting, we're preparing for a big expedition with only educated guesses on the landscape and climate (slightly more tenuous analogy) and that's what I think theatre is about - the live moment, that liveness that only comes from an almost random assortment of strangers (unless they're all a school group or something, or a work bonding experience - we've had that before) working together to create the finished product.
So, that was a little ramble about how important the audience has to be in our rehearsal process and how much they are missed.
Less than a month though till everything comes together though!
For the type of work we do however, our rehearsals always have a very large hole in them. When making theatre in which the audience play a vital role we're constantly saying 'the audience could do this...' or 'what if the audience did this...' or 'why can't the audience do this...' or my favourite 'what the hell do we do if the audience do this...'. It sounds terrifying to essentially rehearse with a major part of the show undecided until the magical 'moment' but this really is what I find energising and exciting. Last November when we did a run of 'The Trial' at the Southwark Playhouse, we could never have planned for dealing with 50 grown adults, running around, blindfolded in the dark and then scaling the walls - in honesty we assumed that common sense would prevail and people would be aware of the terrifying dangers of doing this... whilst blindfolded. When this happened it was a heart stopping moment but we managed to keep on top of it, we just had to run and climb a little bit faster and of course we had the advantage of not being blindfolded.
For this reason, a lot of our rehearsal time is devoted to improvisational skills and spontaneity. It's impossible to plan how to deal with every scenario and so instead we train ourselves to be able to deal with any scenario extremely quickly. This means that the audience should get a greater freedom - though you always get a few scarier members. We were once asked whether the audience were allowed to stab eachother in our shows because we'd taken away the fourth wall and invited them into another world. This of course is not the case because fictional world or not, the real world laws still apply. However this does highlight an interesting point about rules. Once you take away the stalls, fourth wall, interval drinks etc, you've taken away the conventions. With convention comes familiarity, you know you take your seat, watch a play and clap at the end. Without the convention, you lose the familiarity, you lose the recognisable rules. This is where there is a major danger zone when creating work of this nature; Unless you as the artists know what the rules are then you can't expect the audience to. In the vital early rehearsals (which we've just come out of) we always make the point of establishing these rules - if the audience are allowed to interrupt scenes then how do they know when to do it? How do we tell them they can't? How do we let them take an active role in some parts and not others? All these questions are answered just so there is a very firm structure in which the audience are allowed to play freely. Non conventional theatre shouldn't be synonymous with anarchy; it's got to have a different set of rules.
More often than not, you can build these structures but an audience will always find holes in it, it's important to catch them before they see the 'strings' but it's these moments that make the structure stronger for the next show.
We always say that we can't do dress rehearsals because aside from fussing over directors and stage managers to the point of harassment, there's just no way of properly rehearsing audience interaction. This isn't a negative point whatsoever; it's the most exciting part of my job. That first performance with an audience is terrifying because it's the test, it's that moment where you see if this lovely ship you've been building is watertight (I like that analogy) and it's so rewarding when you find it is... it's also that bit more rewarding when the audience jump at your invitations and surprise you in a way you'd never think logically possible. That's what makes these rehearsals exciting, we're preparing for a big expedition with only educated guesses on the landscape and climate (slightly more tenuous analogy) and that's what I think theatre is about - the live moment, that liveness that only comes from an almost random assortment of strangers (unless they're all a school group or something, or a work bonding experience - we've had that before) working together to create the finished product.
So, that was a little ramble about how important the audience has to be in our rehearsal process and how much they are missed.
Less than a month though till everything comes together though!
Thursday 1 July 2010
Once more unto the breach...
It's the night before the start of the mega rehearsal schedule for Belt Up's 'The House Above'. Had a realisation that my next day off is now the 3rd of September!
From tomorrow until the 26th of July, it's 12 hour days of rehearsal 10 till 10 wearing writer, director and actor hats on and off throughout.
Am looking forward to it though - especially because I get to revisit some old friends in Salvador Dali and Gregor Samsa. Haven't been Gregor for two years now so it's quite exciting to be 'putting him on' again (though my state of fitness has declined somewhat requiring most of my time off - i.e. when I'm not asleep - being dedicated to the gym).
From tomorrow until the 26th of July, it's 12 hour days of rehearsal 10 till 10 wearing writer, director and actor hats on and off throughout.
Am looking forward to it though - especially because I get to revisit some old friends in Salvador Dali and Gregor Samsa. Haven't been Gregor for two years now so it's quite exciting to be 'putting him on' again (though my state of fitness has declined somewhat requiring most of my time off - i.e. when I'm not asleep - being dedicated to the gym). Looking forward very much to returning to Salvador Dali, had a dream in character the other night which was incredibly bizarre, not surprising considering it was a dream as Dali. Was probably influenced a lot by a visit to 'The Surreal House' on saturday at the Barbican where they've got his 'Sleep' on display.
I'm aiming to keep a regular diary going on here throughout the prep for 'The House Above' and the Edinburgh festival itself. Haven't got much else to say in this one so I'll avoid dragging it out, I guess the main point is that a massive load of rehearsals start tomorrow and this is exciting. Point made.
Wednesday 9 June 2010
A Brief run-down of everything since I last posted...
To my shame, I haven’t posted anything on here for about 9 months. This is largely because I’d forgotten I had a personal blog but now I am surfing the web presence highway and will endeavour to update as much as I can – especially in the run up to Edinburgh where Belt Up will once again be setting up home, this time quite literally.
I thought I’d do a catch up to kick start my resurrection in this blog and according to the last post, I haven’t written anything since after Edinburgh 2009.
Autumn 2009 saw The Tartuffe and The Trial being performed at the York Theatre Royal (as part of the Takeover festival) and then transferring to the Southwark Playhouse for three weeks in November. Both were well received by audiences and critics alike though we got our first taste of some scathing reviews - critics taking their blindfolds off to write notes is a prime example of maybe why they didn’t ‘get’ the shows. The run was a great success though and whilst down in London we spent some time at BAC in prep for Dominic J Allen’s show ‘Lorca is Dead’ which mainly involved us asking members of the public to engage in Surrealist experiments.
Spring 2010 saw us stepping out onto the streets of York in a show called ‘A Ghost Walk’ which was intended to be a low impact, intimate piece. The premise was that audiences would go on ‘A Ghost Walk’ but gradually the story came less about ghosts and ghouls and more about the Ghost Walker’s dead father whose memory ‘haunted’ him. What we didn’t anticipate was that 80% of the audience members didn’t know they were watching a play meaning every performance got numerous complaints to the York Theatre Royal for forcing a psychologically unstable tour guide out to work. It surprisingly became our most controversial show.
Over Easter we collaborated with Punchdrunk enrichment’s Peter Higgin on a secret, site specific project for the National Student Drama Festival. Having been at the festival as students only two years previously, it was lovely to be invited back as visiting artists. The ‘show’ involved 14 characters inhabiting a purgatory like B&B waiting to pass on to the legendary Atlantis. The audience encountered the piece via chance meetings with these characters around Scarborough with the lucky ones invited to the B&B to lose themselves in the week long durational piece. It had a great success though being in character literally 12 hours a day in a lofty Victorian house induced insanity pretty quickly. The piece had great responses from those lucky enough to get caught up in it and achieved its objective of demonstrating rather than explaining what theatre can be when you take it out of a theatre.
Post-Easter, via me getting stranded in the Seychelles because of a volcano, saw me latex adhesiving a fake moustache to my top lip to play Salvador Dali in ‘Lorca is Dead’ at the York Theatre Royal in an R&D performance run ahead of its Edinburgh stint this summer. This was before my adaptation of ‘The Tartuffe’ had its final curtain call once more in the main house of York Theatre Royal. Orgon Poquelin was tearfully killed off by accidental suicide (he was determined to die onstage a la Tommy Cooper and Molière but not certain about going through with it) and then ascended like Christ to ‘Zadok the Priest’ – was an aptly self indulgent goodbye to a very self indulgent character.
That more or less brings us up to date on all the writing/directing/acting projects I’ve done since I last posted. Now it’s a case of adapting Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’, Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ and finishing my new play ‘Atrium’ ahead of the start of Edinburgh rehearsals for Belt Up Theatre’s The House Above programme at this year’s fringe (Dracula is part of the Edinburgh International Festival).
Will post more soon. Promise.
I thought I’d do a catch up to kick start my resurrection in this blog and according to the last post, I haven’t written anything since after Edinburgh 2009.
Autumn 2009 saw The Tartuffe and The Trial being performed at the York Theatre Royal (as part of the Takeover festival) and then transferring to the Southwark Playhouse for three weeks in November. Both were well received by audiences and critics alike though we got our first taste of some scathing reviews - critics taking their blindfolds off to write notes is a prime example of maybe why they didn’t ‘get’ the shows. The run was a great success though and whilst down in London we spent some time at BAC in prep for Dominic J Allen’s show ‘Lorca is Dead’ which mainly involved us asking members of the public to engage in Surrealist experiments.
Spring 2010 saw us stepping out onto the streets of York in a show called ‘A Ghost Walk’ which was intended to be a low impact, intimate piece. The premise was that audiences would go on ‘A Ghost Walk’ but gradually the story came less about ghosts and ghouls and more about the Ghost Walker’s dead father whose memory ‘haunted’ him. What we didn’t anticipate was that 80% of the audience members didn’t know they were watching a play meaning every performance got numerous complaints to the York Theatre Royal for forcing a psychologically unstable tour guide out to work. It surprisingly became our most controversial show.
Over Easter we collaborated with Punchdrunk enrichment’s Peter Higgin on a secret, site specific project for the National Student Drama Festival. Having been at the festival as students only two years previously, it was lovely to be invited back as visiting artists. The ‘show’ involved 14 characters inhabiting a purgatory like B&B waiting to pass on to the legendary Atlantis. The audience encountered the piece via chance meetings with these characters around Scarborough with the lucky ones invited to the B&B to lose themselves in the week long durational piece. It had a great success though being in character literally 12 hours a day in a lofty Victorian house induced insanity pretty quickly. The piece had great responses from those lucky enough to get caught up in it and achieved its objective of demonstrating rather than explaining what theatre can be when you take it out of a theatre.
Post-Easter, via me getting stranded in the Seychelles because of a volcano, saw me latex adhesiving a fake moustache to my top lip to play Salvador Dali in ‘Lorca is Dead’ at the York Theatre Royal in an R&D performance run ahead of its Edinburgh stint this summer. This was before my adaptation of ‘The Tartuffe’ had its final curtain call once more in the main house of York Theatre Royal. Orgon Poquelin was tearfully killed off by accidental suicide (he was determined to die onstage a la Tommy Cooper and Molière but not certain about going through with it) and then ascended like Christ to ‘Zadok the Priest’ – was an aptly self indulgent goodbye to a very self indulgent character.
That more or less brings us up to date on all the writing/directing/acting projects I’ve done since I last posted. Now it’s a case of adapting Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’, Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ and finishing my new play ‘Atrium’ ahead of the start of Edinburgh rehearsals for Belt Up Theatre’s The House Above programme at this year’s fringe (Dracula is part of the Edinburgh International Festival).
Will post more soon. Promise.
Wednesday 16 September 2009
Coming soon...
Following a rather lovely Edinburgh run, both Tartuffe and The Trial are getting life extensions beyond the festival.
On the 1st and 2nd of October, Tartuffe will play at the York Theatre Royal in the 800 seater main house - quite a different venue from the Squat or The Red Room. Have redone the script to accomodate and am looking forward to reworking the show, it looks like its going to be a lot of fun and a bigger more ridiculous version than the intimate productions.
On the 6th to the 9th, The Trial is being performed up in York in a secret location though I think all the shows are now sold out.
Both shows are being performed as part of the YTR Takeover festival where the theatre is being run by under 26 year olds, quite an exciting prospect and am thrilled to be part of it. Lets hope it inspires similar projects for future years and in other venues across the country.
Beyond October, I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to say yet but expect both Tartuffe and The Trial to be in London for a few weeks come November!
On the 1st and 2nd of October, Tartuffe will play at the York Theatre Royal in the 800 seater main house - quite a different venue from the Squat or The Red Room. Have redone the script to accomodate and am looking forward to reworking the show, it looks like its going to be a lot of fun and a bigger more ridiculous version than the intimate productions.
On the 6th to the 9th, The Trial is being performed up in York in a secret location though I think all the shows are now sold out.
Both shows are being performed as part of the YTR Takeover festival where the theatre is being run by under 26 year olds, quite an exciting prospect and am thrilled to be part of it. Lets hope it inspires similar projects for future years and in other venues across the country.
Beyond October, I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to say yet but expect both Tartuffe and The Trial to be in London for a few weeks come November!
Tuesday 8 September 2009
Edinburgh over and out
Edinburgh finished a week ago today and am only just recovering. We worked out that we were pretty much working 9-5 but at the wrong end of the day.
It was a very good run with both Tartuffe and The Trial selling out every night and receiving some pretty lovely reviews. Here are some of the best:
For Tartuffe -
http://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/blog/8582/The_Tartuffe.html
http://www.whatsonstage.com/blogs/edinburgh2009/?p=1118
http://edinburghfestival.list.co.uk/article/19642-the-tartuffe/
http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/otherresources/fringe/fringe09-87.htm#T
For The Trial -
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/aug/10/the-trial-fringe-review
http://edinburghfestival.list.co.uk/article/19890-the-trial/
http://ed.thestage.co.uk/reviews/630
http://www.broadwaybaby.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=46:current-edinburgh-festival&id=4745:the-trial&Itemid=66
Highlight of the fringe was undoubtedly the moment in Tartuffe when the cast slowly cottoned on to the fact that fantasy author, Neil Gaiman had just been pulled up to be one of the audience played parts. I don't think there are many actors who can say they've acted with Neil Gaiman nor playwrights/directors who have had him play a role. A very surreal moment!
Off the back of Edinburgh we have a few exciting things lined up. None of which are confirmed enough for me to post as yet but I will do soon!
Now it's a case of setting ourselves up ready for life post-fringe. Belt Up (Me, Alex, Dom and Jethro) have now moved into our new house in York and we're planning the next year or so, hopefully a busy one with lots of jobs!
Our next gig is at the York Theatre Royal. Tartuffe's being scaled up considerably from the 50 seater squat to the 800 seat proscenium arch stage for the 1st and 2nd of October. Very excited about that, am working on tweeking the script at the moment so expect a very different production though of course in the same spirit.
Trial is being performed from the 6th to the 9th in an undisclosed space in York, again expect the same spirit but a different show from the Edinburgh run. Tickets can be bought from www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
That's all for now. Will be sure to post soon once rehearsals for the YTR run have begun!
It was a very good run with both Tartuffe and The Trial selling out every night and receiving some pretty lovely reviews. Here are some of the best:
For Tartuffe -
http://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/blog/8582/The_Tartuffe.html
http://www.whatsonstage.com/blogs/edinburgh2009/?p=1118
http://edinburghfestival.list.co.uk/article/19642-the-tartuffe/
http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/otherresources/fringe/fringe09-87.htm#T
For The Trial -
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/aug/10/the-trial-fringe-review
http://edinburghfestival.list.co.uk/article/19890-the-trial/
http://ed.thestage.co.uk/reviews/630
http://www.broadwaybaby.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=46:current-edinburgh-festival&id=4745:the-trial&Itemid=66
Highlight of the fringe was undoubtedly the moment in Tartuffe when the cast slowly cottoned on to the fact that fantasy author, Neil Gaiman had just been pulled up to be one of the audience played parts. I don't think there are many actors who can say they've acted with Neil Gaiman nor playwrights/directors who have had him play a role. A very surreal moment!
Off the back of Edinburgh we have a few exciting things lined up. None of which are confirmed enough for me to post as yet but I will do soon!
Now it's a case of setting ourselves up ready for life post-fringe. Belt Up (Me, Alex, Dom and Jethro) have now moved into our new house in York and we're planning the next year or so, hopefully a busy one with lots of jobs!
Our next gig is at the York Theatre Royal. Tartuffe's being scaled up considerably from the 50 seater squat to the 800 seat proscenium arch stage for the 1st and 2nd of October. Very excited about that, am working on tweeking the script at the moment so expect a very different production though of course in the same spirit.
Trial is being performed from the 6th to the 9th in an undisclosed space in York, again expect the same spirit but a different show from the Edinburgh run. Tickets can be bought from www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
That's all for now. Will be sure to post soon once rehearsals for the YTR run have begun!
Monday 10 August 2009
5 days in
So, today is our fifth performance and it's quite lovely to say that again we are sold out. In fact we are entirely sold out for tomorrow as well with tickets for the rest of the run disappearing fast.
The shows are going very well with great responses from the audience - had a bit of a crazy Valere yesterday who was called 'Rategg' or something.
Reviews are starting to come in, all largely positive and we're now starting to get some attention from the national media now - look out for the Tartuffe troupe on the BBC culture show!
The Squat nights are going nicely as well, most of which are selling out and people are starting to buzz a bit about the bar. Hopefully we'll get a good crowd in on Wednesday when it is taken over by Orgon's Troupe for the Tartuffe Cabaret.
Also, look out for some pictures popping up on flickr and places, when we're out flyering in costume it feels like we're followed by the paparazzi!
The shows are going very well with great responses from the audience - had a bit of a crazy Valere yesterday who was called 'Rategg' or something.
Reviews are starting to come in, all largely positive and we're now starting to get some attention from the national media now - look out for the Tartuffe troupe on the BBC culture show!
The Squat nights are going nicely as well, most of which are selling out and people are starting to buzz a bit about the bar. Hopefully we'll get a good crowd in on Wednesday when it is taken over by Orgon's Troupe for the Tartuffe Cabaret.
Also, look out for some pictures popping up on flickr and places, when we're out flyering in costume it feels like we're followed by the paparazzi!
Thursday 6 August 2009
One day down
Yesterday was our opening night for the Squat (Belt Up's Edinburgh venue this year hosting Tartuffe, Trial and the Squat nights)
Tartuffe and Trial went fantastically - both shows selling out on their first day which was utterly unexpected. Tartuffe also had 8 reviewers in to add to the pressure. Both went well though - Tartuffe had a good Valere in the shape of a guy called Rodney (perfect funny name) and all the audience were well up for the group hug at the end.
The first 'Squat night' was equally successful, the bar was buzzing and we had a lot of people whacking on the blindfolds for a 'Dreamscape'. Was very hot in there, despite it being well past midnight.
Absolutely shattered after but now well awake for day number two!
Tartuffe and Trial went fantastically - both shows selling out on their first day which was utterly unexpected. Tartuffe also had 8 reviewers in to add to the pressure. Both went well though - Tartuffe had a good Valere in the shape of a guy called Rodney (perfect funny name) and all the audience were well up for the group hug at the end.
The first 'Squat night' was equally successful, the bar was buzzing and we had a lot of people whacking on the blindfolds for a 'Dreamscape'. Was very hot in there, despite it being well past midnight.
Absolutely shattered after but now well awake for day number two!
Monday 20 July 2009
The First Post (Vol II)
I haven't posted on here for a while but have found myself with some time in which to do so. Luckily I have thought of a more focussed purpose for this blog which will keep me busy with it over the next few months.
With Belt Up Theatre, we rarely get the opportunity to give the audience a degree of praise. In normal theatre, where they are largely passive, this isn't always necessary. Yet with theatre where they are expected to be interacted with, participate and be largely active, it is a shame that we can't always thank them for adding to our shows.
In light of this, I'd like this blog to be a sort of thankful commentary on my favourite audience experiences as well as a commentary on some of the more risky and dangerous moments from our shows.
All our shows contain an element of improvisation and reliance on things utterly out of our control so here I hope to keep a document of the highlights that arise from this.
With Belt Up Theatre, we rarely get the opportunity to give the audience a degree of praise. In normal theatre, where they are largely passive, this isn't always necessary. Yet with theatre where they are expected to be interacted with, participate and be largely active, it is a shame that we can't always thank them for adding to our shows.
In light of this, I'd like this blog to be a sort of thankful commentary on my favourite audience experiences as well as a commentary on some of the more risky and dangerous moments from our shows.
All our shows contain an element of improvisation and reliance on things utterly out of our control so here I hope to keep a document of the highlights that arise from this.
Our Edinburgh programme begins on the 5th of August so from there I'll keep this blog updated on some of the highlights.
If you're up in Edinburgh this summer, Belt Up have got three shows going - The Tartuffe (8.55 C-Soco 5th-31st Aug), The Trial (11.30 C Soco 5th-31st Aug), Leasspell (EIF, 18th-19th Aug) as well as numerous secret projects and events.
Monday 18 May 2009
Some blogs to check out
Thought I'd draw your attention to some blogs of some performers that I've come across. They seem pretty interesting and you should check them out...
http://www.orgonpoquelin.blogspot.com/
http://www.jacqueslemime.blogspot.com/
www.renard-letartuffe2009.blogspot.com
Keep an eye on them...
Sunday 17 May 2009
Edinburgh 2009 continued...
Just a little update as to the status of Belt Up's 'The Tartuffe' and 'The Trial' this coming festival...
Tartuffe and the Trial now have full casts and venue and time slots. Both of these shows will be performed in Belt Up's 'The Squat' in C soco. The space is going to be in a burned out, warehouse type building, hopefully all safe but everything is fire damaged so it has a really beautiful aesthetic going on.
The Tartuffe will be performed at 20.50 everyday from the 5 - 31st August. The Trial is being adapted from the Kafka by Dominic J Allen and is being performed the same days as Tart at 23.30 so look out for both of them!
Those of you who saw Tartuffe last year, expect more of the same but bigger, better and funnier! Trial is going to be a nightmarish experience so watch out for that one.
It's all getting very exciting now, rehearsals are underway and tickets go on sale from June so buy quickly!
Tartuffe and the Trial now have full casts and venue and time slots. Both of these shows will be performed in Belt Up's 'The Squat' in C soco. The space is going to be in a burned out, warehouse type building, hopefully all safe but everything is fire damaged so it has a really beautiful aesthetic going on.
The Tartuffe will be performed at 20.50 everyday from the 5 - 31st August. The Trial is being adapted from the Kafka by Dominic J Allen and is being performed the same days as Tart at 23.30 so look out for both of them!
Those of you who saw Tartuffe last year, expect more of the same but bigger, better and funnier! Trial is going to be a nightmarish experience so watch out for that one.
It's all getting very exciting now, rehearsals are underway and tickets go on sale from June so buy quickly!
Wednesday 6 May 2009
Edinburgh Festival 2009
Preparations are now underway for Belt Up's work at the festival this year. Here are the plans so far....
On the 18th and 19th of August we will be part of the Edinburgh International Festival as part of our award from last year. At the moment we're working towards a short devised piece called 'Léasspell' which is Anglo-Saxon for fable - it's going to take an archetype from literature and follow it through English culture from Anglo-Saxon to modern day, via Chaucer, Shakespeare etc. It's going to be performed as part of the EIF's 'Behind the Scenes' programme in the form of a work in progress workshop. Very much in embryonic stages but a nice chance to experiment.
Across the majority of the festival we will be playing with another experimental show based on the myth of Persephone. This is attached to the Forest Fringe and will run durationally across the month. It's not going to be a conventional theatre piece at all and the 'audience' may find themselves stumbling upon snippets of scenes without them realising. There wont be any set times or tickets and every day will be completely different so it's looking to be quite a borad piece to experiment with. Keep your eyes peeled!
Finally with Belt Up we are doing two shows in C-Soco. The first being my adaptation of 'The Tartuffe' and the second being Dom's adaptation of Franz Kafka's 'The Trial'. Last year we had our own venue, a dilapidated burlesque lounge called 'The Red Room' but this year we're going to the other end of the spectrum with a burnt out attic. The shows are going to be very much audience led so don't expect a comfortable ride!
I'm also writing an adaptation of 'Doctor Faustus' but I still haven't checked my inbox for details on this!
That's all for now! More info coming soon...
On the 18th and 19th of August we will be part of the Edinburgh International Festival as part of our award from last year. At the moment we're working towards a short devised piece called 'Léasspell' which is Anglo-Saxon for fable - it's going to take an archetype from literature and follow it through English culture from Anglo-Saxon to modern day, via Chaucer, Shakespeare etc. It's going to be performed as part of the EIF's 'Behind the Scenes' programme in the form of a work in progress workshop. Very much in embryonic stages but a nice chance to experiment.
Across the majority of the festival we will be playing with another experimental show based on the myth of Persephone. This is attached to the Forest Fringe and will run durationally across the month. It's not going to be a conventional theatre piece at all and the 'audience' may find themselves stumbling upon snippets of scenes without them realising. There wont be any set times or tickets and every day will be completely different so it's looking to be quite a borad piece to experiment with. Keep your eyes peeled!
Finally with Belt Up we are doing two shows in C-Soco. The first being my adaptation of 'The Tartuffe' and the second being Dom's adaptation of Franz Kafka's 'The Trial'. Last year we had our own venue, a dilapidated burlesque lounge called 'The Red Room' but this year we're going to the other end of the spectrum with a burnt out attic. The shows are going to be very much audience led so don't expect a comfortable ride!
I'm also writing an adaptation of 'Doctor Faustus' but I still haven't checked my inbox for details on this!
That's all for now! More info coming soon...
Writing
This here is the second post of this here, my blog
The reason why this blog has come into existence is mainly due to me losing steam whilst writing. As I'm neglecting this writing to write this post at the moment, I thought it only fair to say a little bit about what I'm working on currently...
Firstly, I've been playing around with what is essentially my first wholly original play, 'Ark'. It's going well and is on the fourth draft, I'm probably going to do another one before sending it out to the world and his wife in the hopes that someone is interested in producing it. It's a post-apocalyptic play set in a bunker but that's all I can really say as the main driving force is the stuff you do or don't know so I wouldn't want to spoil anything - this is of course hoping that somewhere wants to put it on and there be something to not be spoiled. I've sent it to a few friends and relatives and the feedback's been quite good - my Nana noted two pages where the 'f-word' was overly used but apart from that they seemed to like it.
Simultaneously I've been working on an adaptation of 'Doctor Faustus' to be performed at the Edinburgh Fringe at some point in some venue I'm not sure of, I don't know when or where it will be but I'm assured it will happen and be directed by Kate Shenton - I'll post full details when I root them out of my overly filled email inbox. It's going well and becoming a meta-theatrical burlesque show run by the seven sins all talking in a hybrid language of modern English and 'thieve's cant' which has been quite fun to play with - let's me say horrendously offensive things that only a few people will decipher. It needs a bit more work though and is one of the things I'm neglecting most by writing this post.
Finally, I'm working on the third version of my adaptation of Moliere's, Le Tartuffe. The first version was produced at the York Universtiy Drama Barn in 2007. The second was highly remixed and plunged into an immersive, audience responsive style for Belt Up's 'The Red Room' at the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe. This version is feeding off of last year's version but changing the setting to an abandoned, burnt out attic - it will work from the same meta-theatrical world as the 2008 version (at some point I'll explain Tartuffe and Belt Up's style but it's getting late now) but I'm expecting a lot of the text will be completely revised. This version's very much in its infancy though so I'll no doubt be posting more on it later.
So, basically they are the three things I'm working on currently and should probably get back to...
The reason why this blog has come into existence is mainly due to me losing steam whilst writing. As I'm neglecting this writing to write this post at the moment, I thought it only fair to say a little bit about what I'm working on currently...
Firstly, I've been playing around with what is essentially my first wholly original play, 'Ark'. It's going well and is on the fourth draft, I'm probably going to do another one before sending it out to the world and his wife in the hopes that someone is interested in producing it. It's a post-apocalyptic play set in a bunker but that's all I can really say as the main driving force is the stuff you do or don't know so I wouldn't want to spoil anything - this is of course hoping that somewhere wants to put it on and there be something to not be spoiled. I've sent it to a few friends and relatives and the feedback's been quite good - my Nana noted two pages where the 'f-word' was overly used but apart from that they seemed to like it.
Simultaneously I've been working on an adaptation of 'Doctor Faustus' to be performed at the Edinburgh Fringe at some point in some venue I'm not sure of, I don't know when or where it will be but I'm assured it will happen and be directed by Kate Shenton - I'll post full details when I root them out of my overly filled email inbox. It's going well and becoming a meta-theatrical burlesque show run by the seven sins all talking in a hybrid language of modern English and 'thieve's cant' which has been quite fun to play with - let's me say horrendously offensive things that only a few people will decipher. It needs a bit more work though and is one of the things I'm neglecting most by writing this post.
Finally, I'm working on the third version of my adaptation of Moliere's, Le Tartuffe. The first version was produced at the York Universtiy Drama Barn in 2007. The second was highly remixed and plunged into an immersive, audience responsive style for Belt Up's 'The Red Room' at the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe. This version is feeding off of last year's version but changing the setting to an abandoned, burnt out attic - it will work from the same meta-theatrical world as the 2008 version (at some point I'll explain Tartuffe and Belt Up's style but it's getting late now) but I'm expecting a lot of the text will be completely revised. This version's very much in its infancy though so I'll no doubt be posting more on it later.
So, basically they are the three things I'm working on currently and should probably get back to...
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