A couple of things I meant to give you earlier. Here's us walking to the Mime Centrum, the castle is called Bethanien:
Looking at photos like this make me very, very content with my decision to travel to Berlin for secondment. It is an amazing place to be making work.
We rehearse looking out the windows just under the bell tower. Wowzers.
Another thing I wanted to tell you... we went to an Ernst Busch show! It was around one third of the fourth year class and holy mother... they had massive chops.
First some facts about Ernst Busch we have learnt:
Over 2,000 people apply
Each class has 20 people
It is a 4 year course
It costs around 1,000 New Zealand dollars a year
Travel to and from the school is paid for by the government
Each student gets 1.5 hours of one on one voice coaching per week
Every student will graduate with a job
A job for them means a 2 year contract with an ensemble
Ensembles cast these students in 10 to 12 shows per year
So that's that.
The show we watched was called Leonce and Lena and Runa was playing the lead lady, Lena.
Man, Newtown, I talked about wanting to be precise in my work. These guys destroyed me.
The dude in white plays Leonce. He has a monologue to start the piece, it is around ten minutes long. At about half way through he took a single step forward, and I realised to myself... He has had me on the edge of my seat, laughing with my eyes wide open like an exited little kid, with a language I don't understand, in a story I don't know, for around five minutes.
And he didn't even move from the spot.
But he was working so hard! The extremity he was finding was jaw-dropping. The entire company were on peak form. The guy in yellow above jumped like that approximately twenty times while speaking a lengthy text, and we heard every syllable. Just the stamina. It was a bizarre show. I loved every second. A company launching into a piece.
Merry Christmas, Tom.
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