Shakespeare's Sonnets

Dir. Robert Wilson

Great! So here we are, back in New Zealand Wellington Newtown. The piece Ich Warte has been put to rest. But we saw so many shows that I still need to tell you about!

The one I'm itching to scribble down is this one!

Shakespeare's Sonnets directed by Robert Wilson, music by Rufus Wainwright, performed by and at The Berliner Ensemble.

The way the funding system works in Berlin, we bought ten euro (fifteen nzd) student tickets for incredible seats at the most prestigious theatre in the whole of Germany. We've been told that the big 5 theatres in Berlin get first off a flat sum of funding. THEN one hundred to one hundred and fifty euros per seat they fill. Therefore, we paid squat for our centre circle tickets.

So. On to the show.

The basic summary of the show:

- Twenty four sonnets.
- Various archetype characters (cupid, jester. boy, girl, Queen Elizabeth I and II, Shakespeare)
- Wicked and incredible music
- Clowning
- All roles were gender-swapped

This is an actor called Jurgen Holtz playing Elizabeth the First.

This is Jurgen again with another lead, Inge Keller, who played Shakespeare. She was EIGHTY NINE!

Anyway, enough of the overview.

An effective element of this show was also a quality we became accustomed to in German Theatre. Things don't have to make sense. At one point three characters are revealed next to three enormous, cartoon-style petrol pumps. As each character joins in on the song the numbers on the pump begin to turn. Then at the height of the song a bowler hat that has been on stage the whole time begins to rotate and float up into the air. This kind of 'absurdity' is empowering to watch. As a maker I watch this work and I realise, 'it's ok if the audience don't entirely get what I'm doing all the time'. In fact it's better in my taste. Robert Wilson is the polar opposite of spelling things out for the audience. Sure, sometimes he's all 'cupid with a bow and arrow' and 'snakes and apples', but for the most part he is brave in the way he slaps images on top of text.

There was also a highly crafted, stylistic movement and vocal choreography. Every action from every actor was tested, decided upon and performed with precision. The fact that there was a large cast with an intricate set and the performance style was very extreme made the consciousness of the construction. But I reckon it's still valid to work with this decisive but extreme style in a smaller form. For example, my solo.

Love you still, Tom.

The Return

I've made it back to you, Newtown, but I keep having these dreams of Berlin. I love you. But I just need to talk it out. You understand if I review some shows even though I've come back...

Don't you?

A Few Practicalities

Hey Newtown,

If you are interested in reading the script of the show we did at Ernst Busch you can email me on:

tom.c.eason@gmail.com

and I'll check with the company if I can squeeze it to you.


Also I saw a lot of theatre in Germany. I've let you know about a couple of Ernst Busch shows I saw but there's heaps more. So, I will chuck you reviews periodically of them. Here's a list of what's to come:


Nachtasyl (The Night Asylum): By Ernst Busch students at Schaubuhne C Theatre

Eugine Onegin: At Schaubuhne B Theatre

The Return of Ulysses: At Schaubuhne A Theatre

The Power of Darknes: At Schaubuhne B Theatre

Hell on Earth: By Dorky Park and youth at Hau 2 Theatre

Shakespeare's Sonnets: By Robert Wilson at Berliner Ensemble

Das Ding: By Ersnt Busch students at Deutches Theatre


So yes, wow, lots to tell you my friend!

Tom.

Toi Whakaari Vs. Ernst Busch: Super Showing Showdown

Hey Newtown, my one and only,

No one knows me like you do. I miss you heaps of heaps. We are coming home! I'm in San Fransisco. But here's a blog about the last thing we did in Berlin.

So we arrive at Ersnt Busch at around 11.30am and set up for our showing. We'd been given the Heinz Theatre, their largest, on site theatre. So we stripped all the seats and put them on stage in a messy circle, then closed the front curtain to bring it all a bit closer.

After a voice warm up with Runa's personal voice tutor we readied ourselves to show the piece we had explored for a whole month and built in two days.

The doors were closed right up to the time, then we let in around fifty Ernst Busch students and tutors to take a seat on the stage. It was difficult doing it this way. We couldn't make individual connections as strong as we had at the Brotfabrik because the audience was in a kind of stampede formation. The quality of an audience and company working together is much more suited to opening the doors much earlier than people will show up, then the people trickle in and individual or small group conversations can be had.

Anyways! They came in and sat down. The formation of chairs was set up so that we were all in a massive circle.

Harry Fuhrman gives us a fantastic introduction and we go for it! The stakes as actors were higher in this place, being watched by acting and directing students, and acting tutors. I am extremely stoked that we didn't feel the need to push for these stakes though. They helped us get a bit more sharp in places, but on the whole I think the opening we have been crafting, where we ask the audience questions like, "Stand up if you speak english" and "Has anyone been to New Zealand?", helped to change the quality of the relationship to 'co-creators' rather than 'presenter - receptacle'.

The piece itself went well.

Tai in the Medallion Scene with an found Trigorin (as I give whisper prompts).

Two acting students in the Backstage Scene as Konstantin and Nina.

The Success Scene with me as Nina on mic and the company as Trigorin.

Afterwards there was a very rich discussion. It started as a casual talk from mostly our end about how we made the different elements of the show which was ok. But as soon as Jaci asked how they felt about the opening the discussion kicked off! It very quickly became the students arguing with each other about what worked and what didn't. Probably the most effective audience feedback session I have been a part of. The areas covered were:

Audience incorporation

'Live' performance, what is required for this?

Stage-fright

What is the role of community in performance?

...massive. All in all, closing the work with a bang. The reflection the next day showed that, although this company is rounding off, the work is shooting out into many different directions as Holly, Tai, Jaci, Andrew and myself carry the experience back to New Zealand, Ben goes to Australia, Runa, Willem and Thomas remain in Germany. We all have taken different threads, successes and lessons and will be slamming them into our work for years to come.

Thanks for listening, as always, Newtown

Love from Tom.

Ps. four more sleeps.

The Third Type of Ich Warte

So, Newtown!

We showed at Brotfabrik twice. The third re-incarnation of the project Ich Warte. After two days (off) learning lines and two days making we performed our version of The Seagull. We made a fifty-five minute show in around fourteen hours.

This is the Brotfabrik!

It looks big but that's because there is a cinema in there too. Our space looked like this:

We were pretty chuffed to have a space like this after Spandau... Where we could do a decent physical warm-up and felt pro-active rather then lethargic. Plus they have an incredible volunteer staff network who rigged all our lights and mopped the floors before we even got in on our opening night! Mad props.

Our set, with scripts. Continuing the transparency in the work: 

So after the scramble of getting the structure into place we opened our show on the 10th to a really warm bunch of Berliners. Sebastian Sommer came which was awesome, as well as a few people from the New Zealand Embassy in Berlin. It was a full house and we were allowed to find our feet in the work. 

Both nights went amazingly well. Here are some things we were working on:

How can we make found performers look as good as possible in their roles?

How can the storyteller always be present, especially in a dramatic situation?

How can much of a community can we make with of a group of strangers? 

What rhythmic variation is possible within the set text?

Here we are having our first real Berlin curtain call. These can go for ten minutes, depending on the performance and the calibre of the ensemble. Ours was around two minutes long, which is still unexpected, cause, you know, Newtown, you get two bows max in Wellington. You can see our found performers with us. They played Nina, Konstatin and Trigorin at different points in the show:

Love Tom.

Making in a bread factory (Bakery would be so jealous)

Hey Newtown,


Here again. Ok!


So Brotfabrik is the German word for 'bread factory', and also the name of the cinema and theatre space we are making a show that we perform tomorrow. I haven't been messaging as often because this show is such a brave and massive undertaking! We each have a few scenes of The Seagull to learn PLUS I have been given the opportunity to keep working the storytelling techniques I was trying in the first showing to write the connecting pieces that will join our performed scenes together! Awesome excitement all the time! Yes... so I've been writing that. It is all done! Here is a little example, this is what we will open the show with:

Tai:               The Park on an estate

Ben:              A lake, a seagull

Tom:             A wide avenue

Runa:            A rough stage

Andr:            Prepared for an amateur theatrical performance

Jaci:              A single work of art

Tai:               Rough amateur

Ben:             Work of art

Andr:            Theatrical performance rough stages just the curtain open space no scenery

Tom:            Konstantin is a playwright

Ben:             Nina is an actress they are in love

Runa:           Arkadina is Konstantin’s mother an old actress

Jaci:             Trigorin is her lover a novel writer

Andr:           And I am Konstantin

Jaci:             And I am Nina

Runa:           And I am Arkadina

Ben:             And I am Trigorin

Tom:            And I am Konstantin

Tai:              And I am Nina and I am the seagull

Andr:           And an actress

Ben:             And I am Arkadina

Runa:           And I am Trigorin and this floor is Trigorin 


And so on.


So that's been the bulk of my life lately. I am very excited to be writing and I feel really supported by the collective in finding my voice in the work. 


Today was a case of running the storytelling rhythms and testing the actions of the performed scenes. In the performed scenes it's important to note we haven't got set casting, so in the first scene the actors will be audience members. In one scene later on Andrew, Ben and I play Arkadina while Jaci plays Trigorin. We are having fun with the quality of combination of casting. I will play Nina in the fifth scene which I am excited and terrified about. We are testing it tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes. I feel an enormous amount of potential in the form of work we are making. We show tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.


Tom. 

Mighty Mighty Spandau

Dear Newtown,

I haven't heard from you in so long. I miss you so so much. The past few days have been massive! We did another showing! This one was entirely different to the one at the castle studio.

In every way.

The space looked like this:

It was so full-on. Colours everywhere, a massive banner, mismatched everything. But very cosy. Just completely different atmosphere to the clean, crisp Mime Centrum.

In three days we reflected on the Mime Centrum showing, projected to the show we wish to make for the Brotfabrik sessions and devised a site specific work.

We decided to settle on the story of The Seagull, focussing specifically on the four lovers: Konstantin, Nina, Arkadina and Trigorin. We also committed to exploring further the qualities of performance we found at the castle.

What are the qualities of a storytelling?

How can we free the audience and actors' imagination in the way we cast the play?

How can we fill the gaps of the story we aren't performing?

How can storytelling and performance be paralleled, staggered and mashed together?

The show at Spandau was an exploration of the first act, without restricting ourselves to the forms we will be using in the Brotfabrik showings. It reminded me of the work my group did in TakuRua at school. Very naturalistic and cinematic with surrealist layering. We turned the space into a green room for the play-within-the-play in Act One of The Seagull. 


I'm going to leave you for five minutes so I can write another blog about what we're doing at Brotfabrik. Stay strong, Newtown, I love you.

Tom.

Closing 2011 with a Showing!

Hello again, Newtown!

So after our five days off over Christmas our young theatre company set ourselves back on the task of developing the material we had constructed. In the past three days we have distilled our research and exploration and presented it in a showing. In the first two days we discuss and experiment how we wish to present.

What is the quality that will invite the audience to observe, interact, participate as a collaborating stranger?

What does this look like in the body and breath of a performer?

What is the border between relaxed and arrogant?

How do you know when you cross it?

How precise can we be about the qualities we wish to craft into our pieces?

Willem worked with us on the seven (I think) energy states from the book Improvisation in Rehearsal by John Abbott. It basically separates the physical commitment to the target of an actor or storyteller into quantitive sections. From catatonic to hysterical. We figured out what we reckon was the best for each section of our work. Relaxed is quite attractive to play, it helps of I'm a bit nervous about a piece or need the audience to buy in quickly. However, it is a bit too seductive and I can get stuck in it if I don't stay conscious to what the story needs. I also find it tricky to switch into 'character' from a relaxed storyteller quality. So with these kinds of questions, as well as base purpose questions we approached our scenes.

What am I trying to show about the character / story?

Does my treatment of the text aid this?

Am I just being zany?

What is the tactic I am playing on the audience with this treatment of the text?

In two and a half days we crafted a showing. Our character scenes interspersed with youtube, verbatim mash-ups and sound-scapes from Thomas solid-as-a-rock Press.

The showing itself was last night and was a super fun time.

We greeted the audience at the door with cushions and invited them to sit in the middle of the room. Willem gave a quick welcome and we set off. The audience was much larger than we thought it would be, but we had made the decision that the working could be as transparent as we needed it to be, so we could openly ask them to move, or let them know a better view was somewhere else. This quality extended into the scenes as well. With Andrew and Jaci admitting at the open of their piece that they were having trouble presenting the story of Nina and Konstantin in The Seagull. They showed a few failed attempts as well as when they thought they were closer to the treatment. This honesty, I think, led to a easy transition into a three scenes performed by two audience members with headphones, repeating lines from Andrew and Jaci.

Successes include:

The welcome. In true Toi styles, we surely can bring an audience into a space and get them ready to view a piece in a particular way.

Nina and Konstantin. Completely selfless sharing of character between Andrew, Jaci and two audience members.

Ben seamlessly folding verbatim interview material he had harvested at the beginning of his chapter into his monologue as Astrov.

The later two became the focus of our project from here on, and I am psyked. These both capitilise on our strength as leaders in a room and community builders as well as challenging us to work harder in the moment of performance.

This post has fermented a little. Hope it makes it to you fresh enough.

Love you Newtown, I can't picture your face anymore, that's a bit weird don't you think?

Tom.

I leave you with a happy new years present of photo essay of the performances not mentioned.