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Heidelberg .02

12.6

When I am in a non-English speaking country I like to do 2 things - buy a book and see a movie in the native language.  So we saw X-Men: Apocalypse.

We also watched a football game - Germany vs Ukraine - at my host-brother’s university cafeteria with loads of other students, friends and family. And Germany won! (duh)

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11.6

I arrived in Heidelberg, after a disappointing, long and stressful more than 24 hours of travel.  I didn’t make it to Berlin and Die Dreigroschenoper directed by Robert Wilson after all.

My exchange-brother (and now host-brother) lives and studies in Heidelberg, a beautiful student-city, about 1/5 of the population are students.  Interestingly, the university building are spread out across the entire city.  I can image the outrage of my fellow classmates who grumble about having to walk up and down “Mt KG.”

We went to see Heidelberg Castle, some of the most important Renaissance ruins north of the Alps.  The view of the city is breathtaking.

Heidelberg University is the oldest university in Germany.  Robert Bunsen (of the Bunsen Burner) was a professor at Heidelberg University.  We visited the Old University Prison where students were sent if they broke rules, such as being drunk or disorderly at class.  The entire building is covered ceiling to floor in graffiti - poems, sayings, images - done by the “inmates.”  They used their time very creatively there.

We also visited the Old University Great Hall which was so beautiful!  The visit was timed perfectly after I received news of my “re-acceptance” into my university course that I will graduate from this year.  The beauty of this hall reminded me of the importance of continued learning and even excited me at the thought of returning to study.

In the evening, I met some of my host-brother’s friends and we had a barbeque, which my host-brother reminded me was the first thing we did with him in Australia as well.  His friends are so lovely and they speak in English and translate for me so I am included in conversation and jokes.  It feels nice to be with young people again - I get a very small glimpse of what student-exchange may have been like.

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8.6 - 10.6

Thoughts on Paris:

The bread and cheese are not only very good but it’s perfectly normal to walk around the streets eating them.

French comics have lots of pirates and lots of kicks female leads.

Bicycling is popular and everyone looks attractive when riding their bikes.

People piss on the street so it always smells of urine and shit.

There’s always loads of garbage on the street and questionable water running in the gutters.

You hear a symphony of car honks and sirens more often than not.

It was fantastic to experience the local side of Paris more than the tourist strip this time around.  The people are lovely and it has made me want to live in France.

Explosions in the Sky was a whole other experience, I can’t even describe how incredibly special and magical it was hearing their beautiful music played live.

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Voyager

7.6

I had another wonderful evening at the New Diorama Theatre, this time seeing Voyager by Idle Motion.  The show was inspired by the Voyager aircraft launched in 1977.  It was interesting to see another show inspired by this event (previously saw You, Me and Everything Else at The Soho Theatre).  While You, Me and Everything Else focussed on the creation of The Golden Record, Voyager was a piece set in the present day inspired by events of the original Voyager.  A young girl, descending from the makers of The Golden Record tries to find her place in the world today, and wonders whether Mars is the place where she truly belongs.

What stood out to me about this piece was the highly considered, “cool” looking and clever use of design.  The design was well informed, incorporating etchings from The Golden record, clever lighting effects to enhance the action, and set movements disguising prop and actor movement and allowing the creation of “theatre magic.”

Idle Motion are a young, collaborative theatre making ensemble, who met at school and have been creating work ever since. This is inspiring as a fellow theatre maker just about to complete her own studies and enter the creative industry with her theatre-making collaborators and friends.

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The Encounter

28.5

The Encounter by Complicite left me in awe of its use of technology and itching to excitedly discuss the the mechanics of the play and the functions of the mediums used.

Inspired by the book Amazon Beaming (written by Petru Popesco), The Encounter uses binaural audio to blend the true stories of Loren McIntyre, a professional photographer working in the Amazon rainforest in 1969, and Simon McBurney, performer & director working in his home office in 2014.

The narrative is touching when the performer reveals a true anecdote after the curtain call - that he promised to let his audiences know that “the Mayoruna people exist” - however it doesn’t grip me throughout the entirety of the performance.  What does get my attention in terms of content is the exploration of a cyclical concept of time, and the questioning of reality and fiction.

The latter idea is explored beautifully through the production’s use of sound - a mixture of pre-recorded and live-mixed audio, using regular microphones and binaural microphones, played through headphones and throughout the entire theatre venue, to create soundscapes that put you in the Amazon rainforest or a busy city office, or distinctly different characters all played by the same actor with little to no physical changes.  This is a truly wonderful example of intermediality.

This piece, in a previous production, was streamed live, and I can only imagine how that mode of delivery yet again changed the meaning that was created.

The use of the visual design is fantastic, with light and projection playing inventively on a 3D textured back wall.

Complicite is definitely among my top favourite devising companies.  Make sure you check out their website to see loads of creative resources from many of their shows.

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NOW16 WK2

17.5

Echo_Narcissus - An interesting exploration of our online identities, drawing from the tragic tale of Narcissus and Echo.

Nanjing - All the right ingredients for a beautiful story, and I did enjoy pondering the concept of militant pacifists.

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Boy

16.5

To the creative team behind Almeida Theatre’s production of Boy,

From a theatre maker from Australia, thank-you for such a timely piece of necessary theatre.

After a long week of major arts funding announcements in Australia, when a prime minister says that my generation’s parents should buy our first house for us, I was deeply inspired by this honest and frank calling of our society’s bullshit in regards to the class system, especially in regards to youth.

I would like to commend Almeida Theatre, and their Artistic Director, Rupert Goold, for their support of this new work when many other theatres did not, as well as their effort to make it accessible to a wider audience by providing youth discounts and captioned performances.

Leo Butler (Writer), your piece speaks honestly and frankly of the issues that this generation faces.  While some of the specific cultural references may have been lost to an Australian, the tone of your piece rings familiarly to not just other areas of England, but other parts of the world.  I hear the same conversations on the streets of Brisbane as I witnessed that night.

The direction of this piece was inspiring.  Sacha Wares (Director), your consideration of not just delivery and space, but venue and most notably casting.  It was an incredible pleasure to witness such a diverse (and large!) group of actors performing to a extremely high standard - especially while navigating such physically taxing sets and costume, a credit to Miriam Buether (Designer), Leon Baugh (Movement Director), stage assistants and all actors involved.

The impressive set along with the sound (Gareth Fry) perfectly captured the monotonous, repetitive and cyclical nature of the issues being highlighted.

I also had the pleasure of attending the Talkback event.  It was highly encouraging to enter that stimulating discussion with such eloquent, educated and opinionated young people.  I agree, that the beauty of this play comes from the ability to highlight sensitive issues including wealth, education, personal goals, in relation to gender, age, race, class etc without playing the blame game. Rather than waste time pointing fingers, this play demands action now, leaving no room for excuses.

I have always considered myself to be a socially and politically driven person, and so I consistently found myself responding “I know this already, I do this already,” to the play’s nagging cry for us to notice the issues being addressed. And it’s true, I do notice that homeless person as I bustle past with my £3 coffee.

But in this fast paced world, especially a busy city like London, I sometimes find myself putting up a hard exterior - “Don’t mess with me, I won’t mess with you” - but this makes it hard to maintain an outward focus and I lose sight of what it feels to see. But this is no excuse.

And although when I do see homeless people, and unemployed immigrants, and uninspired youth, I notice, and sympathise, but I do not act.  In my chosen (arts) career, I will likely not make enough money to support myself without supplementing my bank account with at least one other job.  But this is no excuse. 

And these are only two of the excuses a self proclaimed socially and politically driven, middle-class, caucasian, female could dream up. And maybe it’s time that stopped. Maybe it’s time for change.

In my theatre making training we were pushed to know the answers to, “Why this play? Why now? Why this play now?” And now that I know the potential power that an honest and genuine answer to this question has, I will strive further to achieve this challenge in my own work.

Congratulations and thank-you to all involved, on such an outstanding work.

Warmest wishes and kind regards,

Blooskie

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The Girl Who Fell In Love With The Moon

15.5

“It wasn’t a particularly spectacular night, as she sat stargazing in her room...”

But it was a spectacular night at The New Diorama Theatre.  The Girl Who Fell In Love With The Moon, by The Human Zoo Theatre Company was a lovely little clowning piece about dreaming too big and too far and the cost of fulfilling those wishes upon stars.  The simple storyline allowed the audience to slip into the rhythm of the show and enjoy the delightful visual and aural aesthetic.  The show was at its best when the actors connected with the “non-existent” audience.  A particularly poignant moment was the use of other actor’s voices replacing The Girl and The Moon during a crucial scene.

I would absolutely be interested to see more by this group of multi-skilled artists.

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NOW16 WK1

14.5

Tonight was my first night at The Yard Theatre’s NOW16 Festival and I was incredibly blessed to see two fantastic shows - Wishbone by Laura Burns, and Rituals for Change by Not Yet a Robot.

The Yard is a brilliant venue, the entire area decked out with bars & cafes, music stages and skating areas. The theatre itself is intimate in a comfortably cozy sort of way, like a warm hug.  I’m very comfortable returning to this theatre another four times in the next month.

Wishbone was a beautiful exploration of bodies and voice in place.  A balanced blend of brilliant physical and vocal performance had me considering new ideas, testing different theories, and feeling awe, admiration, calmness, excitement, bliss, unimaginably small... all in the space of one short hour.

Imagine if you were to dig a tunnel to the centre of the earth... You would free fall for about 18 minutes before you hit the hot iron & maybe nickel core.

Rituals for Change explored the body and the felt experience of change, specifically in a transgender context.  I adored the welcoming mood of this ritualistic performance.  From my experience, gender identity can be an extremely sensitive issue to discuss so openly, however this performance held no preconceived ideas or judgments of the audience.   What a beautiful connection the performer had with her audience!

“I get whistled at by construction workers and I think “Really? ... Really?!””

Two fantastic shows to kickstart the NOW16 Festival at The Yard Theatre; I am throughly excited for the rest of it!

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You, Me and Everything Else

8.5

Last night I saw my first theatre piece here in England at The Soho Theatre.  A delightfully social venue with three performance spaces and a rollicking atmosphere.

The show “You, Me and Everything Else” was written and performed by Camisado Club. A beautiful intertwining of science, historical-fiction and a love-story based on the organisers of The Golden Record on the Voyager, this piece provoked thoughts about what even makes humanity human while still managing to leave the audience warm and fuzzy.

This was a high quality production, with a fantastic soundtrack and intelligently understated design.

Is love the most human thing that you’d want to share with the universe?

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try new things

6.5

I’ve been staying in a house of passionate and competitive roller derby players and coaches.  The sport itself is something I’ve been exposed to for a couple of years now but haven’t engaged nearly half as much as I have in the past month - watching games and training sessions, NSOing (non-skating official) in the penalty box, conversations with ALL levels of skaters, and derby talk at ‘home’ obviously.

Tonight I put on some derby skates for the first time (actually second time in quads but I used to inline for fun) at rookie training with the Birmingham Blitz Dames.  It was well fun!  I really enjoyed it from a fitness point of view (I am buggered!) and the ladies (and men) were incredibly welcoming.

I have never been a sporty person; never did sport at school or played in any sport teams.  If a complete nerd like me can get up and give it a go, anyone can; I highly recommend checking out your local roller derby league if you are looking for a fun way to keep fit, socialise, or you want to master a competitive, fun and fast-paced sport.

The Birmingham Blitz Dames are competing in the SKOD Tournament this weekend! You can watch ALL the games LIVE and for FREE here

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London Town

29.4

It’s taken me 5 days of exploring to be able to articulate my thoughts on London.

The air feels crisp and fresh (even though it’s pretty filthy) because it’s cool. And I don’t sweat here.

The street signs are big and positioned high so everyone can see them from far away.

There are more little parks and gardens around the city than I thought there would be.

Smoking is highly prevalent, not discouraged and very socially acceptable almost anywhere. I see a lot more young people smoking here, which is unfortunate.

Also, e-cigarettes are a Thing. They stink just as bad, if not worse than tobacco as the flavours all mix together in some disgusting too-sweet cocktail.

The emergency vehicles alarms are shrill and piercing.

I’m ready for some more exploring.

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23.4

I spent the 400th celebration of William Shakespeare’s life in his birthplace and final resting place, Stratford-upon-Avon.  It was a grand affair with many events hosted by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) to celebrate the life and legacy of a brilliant playwright.

I took part in a voice workshop with an RSC practitioner and learned the importance of using each resonator in our body to create a fuller sound, as well as some techniques on how to activate each one.  What was phenomenal to see was the improvement in readings of Sonnet 18 before and after a basic introduction to articulation.  Even though it was just a very quick glance at the rhythm of the language, I learned that by ensuring the energy is carried right to the end of the line, the meaning of Shakespeare’s language is immediately much clearer.

Well Said! is a multi-media visual art exhibition hosted by RSC at the moment.  Artists created works that were inspired by favourite Shakespeare quotations chosen by contributors to the RSC or Shakespeare’s legacy. Soraya Syed created the absolutely stunning crown with Arabic calligraphy above titled A Deep Sleep based on the quote “My gracious lord, my father, This sleep is sound indeed.” Henry IV Part 2, Act 4, Scene 5.  And Gareth Courage’s piece was inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 3, Scene 1, “The moon methink look with a wat’ry eye, And when she weeps, weeps every little flower, Lamenting some enfrocèd chastity.  Tie up my lover’s tongue, bring him silently.”

The final highlight of the day was a performance called Wondrous Stage by Mimbre Acrobats.  It was a beautiful interpretation of some of Shakespeare’s best characters and moments, memorably captured in very simple and beautiful ways, while still managing to capture the gusto of Shakespeare’s writing.

For more information on the artists in Well Said! download the Gallery Guide

To find out more about Mimbre Acrobats visit their website

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23.4

ROUND 2

P1 Brisbane Kitty V P2 Birmingham Kitty

>FIGHT<

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~~ Disneyland Paris: wish upon a star ~~ part six (of six)

17.4

Disneyland really comes alive at night.  The park’s buildings are decorated with golden white fairy lights.  I would love to do this to my future house.

Disney Dreams, the fireworks show, is the castle is the cherry on the Disneyland cake, and the single time where all the guests in the park come together to witness some serious magic.

But I really liked the short projection show before hand specific to this month - Save Our Planet.  It shows real images of nature spots that have inspired locations in Disney movies, including our Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia.  All the nature spots are in danger of being destroyed by our impact.

Save Our Planet.

[Check out the captions for a little more specific info for each photo.]

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~~ Disneyland Paris: wish upon a star ~~ part five

16.4

The brightest highlight of my trip to Disneyland would absolutely have to be meeting my favourite Disney character - Peter Pan (and Captain Hook of course!).

I met Captain Hook in the morning of my final day in Disneyland.  A true gentleman, he bowed before kissing my hand.  The poor dear needed a hand to sign my autograph book.  He posed gallantly for photos with me before I turned upon him, like a true Lost Girl and poked fun at the old codfish.

I returned later in the day to meet Peter and who should return but Captain Hook!  Peter and I proceeded to taunt the old rascal again using the old “crocodile move.”

Peter, wishing me a happy birthday, was shocked to discover I was almost grown-up but promised I would have no more birthdays.  So, I’ll never turn 22 and will remain 21 for ever more.

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~~ Disneyland Paris: wish upon a star ~~ part four

15.4

This was my first (of many) adventures in the Disneylands of the world and was the beginning of some Disney collections.

My Spring Tinkerbell lanyard holds a special edition My Favourites pin of Nana from Peter Pan (no. 427 of 700), and a Hidden Mickey Baseball Toontown Pinwheels pin that I traded with a very kind cast member for.

I began my signature collection with Jafar.  The lovely attendant noticed my birthday badge and took my book straight over to Jafar - who naturally made a big show of being interrupted with his meetings with guests.  However he signed it a very special happy birthday message for me after all.

For my sister’s and my birthday, our brother and new sister in law gave us a ticket to see Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show! It was an AWESOME show with GREAT food! Yee-haw!

[Check out the captions for a little more specific info for each photo.]