lets resurrect this bastard
It's been a while between blogs (actually nearly a year) - but thought I would begin again as I head into my Asialink residency in November. Thought about creating a new blog for Hong Kong but like the idea of keeping these sorts of things in one place. Besides the name has a certain charm to it and a reason to celebrate these things.
For those of you wondering what happened after my last post you will just have to talk to me in person (and most of you have) - suffice to say though I survived of course and the experiments have indeed informed my work since.
I am in the Riverland, South Australia as I write this and I am in my third week of the first block in making a show called "Crystal". I have been working on it off and on for about a year now. Over that time I have left myself with plenty of problem solving to do in this block - and there are many more things to solve - and yet again I am doing a lot of stalling. I am in the middle of having too many ideas and trying to refine them into one style and to get the video component to sit well with the piece. I have an incredible amount of work in front of me. The second block and performances will occur in October just before I head to Hong Kong. So it's sort of like an arts residency - just one where the surroundings are familiar.
"Crystal" is about divorce from the perspective of the young person but doesn't mention the word once. It is the story of four families each going through various stages of seperation or coming together when suddenly their lives are rudely interupted by a freak natural occurance that turns everything (and I mean everything - from people to houses and nature) to salt and crystaline glass like structures. For a moment eveything is fragile and often destroyed. Then just as quickly as it appeared it goes leaving eveyone wondering just what happened yet changed.
It's quite nice being in the Riverland again. I am staying with old mate Cherie whose laugh I woke to this morning. Cherie has an unmistakeable laugh - it is jolly and loud. Along with Cherie the Riverland hasn't changed much since my two and a bit year stint at the helm of the youth theatre ten years ago. Locals have recognised me or my name and have said hello - it's as if I never left!
The young people in the show have been tremendous in their energy and attention to rehearsals. There is something special about young people doing theatre in a regional area, that is very different to young people doing the same thing in the city. I can't quite put my finger on it. But it's something to do with being extremely natural and honest. It's one of the very few things I miss about this youth theatre.
For those of you wondering what happened after my last post you will just have to talk to me in person (and most of you have) - suffice to say though I survived of course and the experiments have indeed informed my work since.
I am in the Riverland, South Australia as I write this and I am in my third week of the first block in making a show called "Crystal". I have been working on it off and on for about a year now. Over that time I have left myself with plenty of problem solving to do in this block - and there are many more things to solve - and yet again I am doing a lot of stalling. I am in the middle of having too many ideas and trying to refine them into one style and to get the video component to sit well with the piece. I have an incredible amount of work in front of me. The second block and performances will occur in October just before I head to Hong Kong. So it's sort of like an arts residency - just one where the surroundings are familiar.
"Crystal" is about divorce from the perspective of the young person but doesn't mention the word once. It is the story of four families each going through various stages of seperation or coming together when suddenly their lives are rudely interupted by a freak natural occurance that turns everything (and I mean everything - from people to houses and nature) to salt and crystaline glass like structures. For a moment eveything is fragile and often destroyed. Then just as quickly as it appeared it goes leaving eveyone wondering just what happened yet changed.
It's quite nice being in the Riverland again. I am staying with old mate Cherie whose laugh I woke to this morning. Cherie has an unmistakeable laugh - it is jolly and loud. Along with Cherie the Riverland hasn't changed much since my two and a bit year stint at the helm of the youth theatre ten years ago. Locals have recognised me or my name and have said hello - it's as if I never left!
The young people in the show have been tremendous in their energy and attention to rehearsals. There is something special about young people doing theatre in a regional area, that is very different to young people doing the same thing in the city. I can't quite put my finger on it. But it's something to do with being extremely natural and honest. It's one of the very few things I miss about this youth theatre.
posted by steve mayhew at
9:52 PM
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