Cogito Ergo Sum
28/04/10: Yeah, sure! Reveal yourself, o pretender! . . . Anyway, real Muhammad here - with a message for all readers. Yesterday, I felt quite happy to take cente-stage as a Victorian teacher-ghost - lecturing to his somewhat baffling pupils! I suppose a bigger audience might not want to follow us (!) to the playground - so I suppose, in that case, we could draw their attention from a distance. The main goings-on, of course, are outside the school-house - and I find that, to be heard, I must be super-loud. Not so difficult - but I want to capture a kind of pathos in the teacher-ghost's tone, if you know what I mean. I would love to do this scene in July, by which time we're bound to be more polished, resourceful and confident. . . . Enjoyed the other stories - quite liked the idea of looking at and admiring a cute little elephant. I hadn't been on a slide for ages! . . . The tunnel song was quite enlivening again - puts one in a mellow mood. Quite enjoyed the camaraderie at the end of the last story. And now . . . When do words cease to be necessary? When emotion flows, I suppose . . .
Muhammad
Clearly you are the intruder. Oh false one my whymsy is wasted on you and your minions oh echo.
Garden of Delight
05/05/10 - Hello readers. Yesterday we were a select group - but we raked and weeded the garden of Drama well. The ball/name game tested us well - memory: how much info could it hold? 3 simple things - yet . . . one had to make an effort to coordinate. . . . Throwing a ball to a partner: Jools gave the idea that it could be thrown aggresively - we adopted that. The recipient of the ball could play with any reaction, including being like a still, tough fella . . . Then came the pieces with 2 people - Pooja and I concocted 3 scenarios - involving emotions: fear and anger, grief, frustration and relief/happiness. When words become unnecessary or seem impossible . . . The others did well - Amanda and Mariko could have been two dumb (positive meaning: speechless) people, living in harmony together. Lee and Ann were mute - killing time in silence, with expressive faces telling some stories. Lucy's piece was very naturalistic. I enjoyed myself and share Pooja's enthusiasm for our current project. . . . I've found a tight T shirt for our clown outing. Hope to start working on Professor Muhammad's Occupying Spaces lecture. Onwards and upwards!
Nearly clowning time
Hi everyone! I\'m just about to embark on a search for suitable clowing clothes and am curious to see what everyone else brings along tomorrow night. Looking forward to clowning fun and games tomorrow. See you there!
I, Stupid
12/05/10: I wish I could have been the silliest clown last night! The stupidest person! 'Hello, my name is Muhammad - and I'm EXTREMELY stupid!!' All the games were FUN and instructive. Eyes wide and face relaxed-jawed at the centre of a circle was baffling . . . tried so hard to be totally relaxed, without doing any acting . . . The LOOK game was quite a neat way to bond - I used a funny voice and tried to make it my own. There were so many neat things to LOOK at . . . I'm going to try to incorporate clowning into my lecture. Time to put my thinking cap on. (Clown-thinking cap?!)
Elephant
As Jools mentioned last night, there's a brilliant show coming to Greenwich Theatre next week called Elephant.
(Faye, you really have started something - elephants are taking over London!)
It's on from 20th - 23rd May and here's the link to the website:
http://www.greenwichtheatre.org.uk/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=233:elephant&catid=7:playingnow&Itemid=1
Maybe we can organise a group trip?...
Stooooopid
p.s. my name is Lucy and I am stoooooooooopid!
Curled Angels, Sunset and City Workers . . .
19/05/10: Happy about our progress yesterday. The 'angels' can imitate the shape of the curved benches, and straight lines, the way we might unconsciously reflect shapes round us. Angels lie and then come alive for a spell, to explore the temporal world. . . . We see the sun-set differently when people are round us . . . How to show the MONEY in our city-workers sketch? Carry a brief-case or 2? Look at our watches?? Time is money and all that? . . . Enjoyed the Bonny song and the eye-opening (literally!) LOOK-clowning. A flower, the moon, something on a wall - all could be looked at with wonder and glee. Thru the eyes of goofy clowns! Us!
Tonight &Elephant
Sorry I could not make tonight. Saw Elephant Sunday, it was great!
OMG!
Just had to say this today before I lose the feeling - how wonderful it is watch "creation" of theatre. From Look! Nelly the elephant to a travelling theatre in bombay...and from singing "my bonnie lies" to feeling it and giving it a hopeful ending...this is fantastic! Simply because its new to me and i love it but also because it so resembles the very essence of creation itself - "spontaneity". Got to love it!