Monday 10th June
It’s a busy fortnight… The Unity Festival in Cardiff begins officially on 12th June but we’ve already begun working with Frantic Assembly on a residency that leads to a performance on the last weekend of the festival. Monday starts with glorious sunshine, a hearty breakfast and a cycle ride through the park to the Wales Millennium Centre. We meet some familiar faces and spot a few new ones as we enter the hall and prepare. I feel a sense of calm, having run so many workshops this year it’s a real pleasure to be participating. The morning ratifies this feeling as we are quickly lead through a warm up at a pace that keeps you on your toes but also stretches and strengthens the muscles. The explanation is clear and precise and always with an enthusiasm that engages all of us. Before the morning is over we have run with, chased and connected with all the members in the group. It is a physical delight and I try to make notes of all the exercises. The group has a real mix of people with varying physical and learning abilities. The facilitation of the session could be tricky but Naomi and Stephen are very good and delivering everything at an energetic pace but with a key eye on inclusiveness. So the day ends with us all showing devised duets that include lifts and contact work and this was so beautiful to watch and participate in. There are plans afoot to develop these elements further and an introduction of text but the whole day has been a delight, physical but manageable, engaging but challenging.
Monday evening was our last rehearsal with Odyssey Theatre Group who will perform at the weekend. The piece “What Shall We Do?” is a flash mob style piece with some choreographed and improvised sections. The group are a joy to work with, they have great enthusiasm and after just a few evening sessions we’ve managed to put something together that I think is fun and engaging. It will have to be as this is going to be performed outside the Millennium Centre next to The Lady Boys of Bangkok tent amongst other performances. So I’m both looking forward to it and have some fears as to how much impact we can actually have. My only concern is the actors playing security guards are too realistic. They have really embraced law and order and our quite intimidating!
Long but lovely day….. lets hope the rest of the week continues in this fashion!
Tuesday 11th
An aerobic start to the Frantic day. Naomi our guide very quickly gets us all doing a series of exercises that make the heart beat. Her explanation is seamless and before you know it we are star jumping, twisting, stepping strongly into the nordic and doing the Barbara Windsor(!) to a high tempo track. Its a great way to start and there are a number of red faces after this lively start, mine included I’m sure. I couldn’t help think how healthy we all looked with a little sweat on our brow. We further develop movement ideas and a whole series of pieces develop from a simple sign and describe game. This involves introducing the person to your right with a series of expressions, gestures and movements. The group share and then teach the movements to others, putting together a series of movements. We show this back and some groups are really adventurous and move at high speed, others purposeful and beautifully. This leads into some contact work and again through simple gesture and contact we develop a piece whilst sat on chairs. I worked with Martin and Sophie and it felt a very natural and easy devising time as we played and then rehearsed our sections. By varying speed we found nuances that had been missing previously and this was most satisfying. All of these exercises have been allowed to develop with time and with our leaders encouraging us to rehearse over and over to develop and find new moments. It works and the presentations are really powerful. This has definitely built up the confidence of the group. The pace of delivery and then the attention to detail has allowed some really good work to emerge and the feedback has certainly given us a lot of confidence and belief. We spend the last part of the day writing answers to questions like ‘Has anyone ever risked their safety for you?’. We have some homework, objects and images to find, and the day eases into the evening. Tomorrow Marega, Danny and I have to leave early for our show at the launch. It will be an interesting challenge to go back to The Waiting Room and then to catch up with the Frantic group.
Wednesday 12th
So Unity is launched and the opening event was wonderfully hosted by Matthew Purnell, a Hijinx academy student and Graham Norton protege. In rehearsals Matthew had been practicing his introductions to guests and had referred to Nick Capaldi from Arts Council Wales as the big head of the arts. We spent the morning with Matthew and the rest of the Frantic Assembly group and after an easier warm up we returned to the duet contact work we started earlier in the week. Contact involves using the touch and connection of another to create physical reaction. My partner Jade and I developed our routine further with some advice. Mostly we were advised not to be so dancer like… which was hilarious as we were both becoming very balletic for some reason. It’s the form of exercise that sort makes you adopt that dancer face and then finish off moves with a contemporary flourish. This is not the Frantic way we are told with a warm and friendly smile. We have to whisper to each other from time to time to ‘stop dancing’ or ‘don’t float that leg,’ whilst been lifted. Mrs Clark steps into our practice and asks to be lifted as her partner is less keen to throw her about. At lunch time we cycled over to the Sherman and run The Waiting Room with a technician and a small test audience. The rehearsal went well. However we only delivered a taste of the show and we sort of just sat there and …. waited. I think it went well and Danny another academy student did a fine job. He was so excited when we got into the Sherman performance space and could not sit down. It was such a joy to see and a timely reminder that working in theatres is really exciting and we are very lucky to be doing what we are doing. Thursday we do the show for real and I think the audience will be in for a surprise… possibly even a shock. We finished the evening watching Candoco’s ‘Three Acts Of Play’ and enjoyed their version of The Tempest delivered somewhat like a Forced Entertainment show. It was a very good opening to the Unity Festival and a fantastic launch…. now we have 11 shows to do in as many days. We have take off!
Thursday 13th June
A more sedate start to the working day with a more gentle warm up that stretches the fibres in the body. We revisit some of our group choreography and Naomi and Stephen then attempt to put this together as a whole. Members of the five groups are spread around the room and then enter the centre to hit their routines as others complete sections of theirs. It’s like watching air traffic control and we have a few near misses before we get a sense of where we are going. The afternoon is a quietly creative space as we spread our images, words and objects around us. We are asked to construct a narrative from these things and then tell the others in the group. It’s really interesting to see what other people have and to hear their thoughts. It’s also deeply personal and moving and there is a weight in the room this afternoon. Marega has a squashed frog in her collection… it had certainly felt a weight. But we are not squashed and the stories that came out of the session were intriguing. Although I was blank to start with it was great to let the mind flow and to create a story connecting the things I had in front of me. We wrapped up and then headed to the Sherman. I had a good shout at a couple of motorists who were adamant that my bicycle should be closer to the kerb and this certainly energised me for The Waiting Room performance. It was our first full run through and it was lovely to see a hearty crowd … even some Newport people, one of whom ended up in the performance. Thank you Grant for being such a good sport. So the end of the week looms and I am hoping for a more aerobic start to the day. I miss the sweaty start to the sessions…. although I’m not saying that out loud to anyone.
Friday 14th June
That’s better… heart pumping, heat seeking and ready to go after a good warm up. We look back on our work so far with some elements being blocked together. Christa has joined us and Stephen gets us to show most of the devised choreography. Its amazing how much we all remember and there is a sequence that starts with Jeremy and Danny and it’s just great, inspiring stuff and raises the tempo for the group piece. There are undoubtedly some tired people today. It’s been a busy and all consuming process so we really benefited from Christa’s after lunch warm up. We saw some of the costume ideas and we are told the theme of the performance. There is some homework for the weekend and I wonder where this will fit in. The weather is appalling and with 6 outdoor Odyssey performances over the weekend I have a fear that we are going to be blown all over the bay. Anyway… an early evening at last and a little home cooking and a hot bath are just the ticket to steal us for the coming storm.
Saturday 15th June
So the day kicked off with an early sound check and the Odyssey group in fine voice. We used clip on mics for a few of us singing and put my guitar through the outdoor PA system. Problem was by the time we came to do our first performance the rain was lashing down and the wind was mightily strong. The sensible decision was made to do the show inside the foyer of the WMC and that’s where we stayed for all three performances. As a busker in my own show I got man handled by the actors playing security a little heavily and I had to ask them to calm down afterwards. These guys are serious. All the shows went well and were really well received by a bemused and sometimes partisan audience. The energy of the group was great as mine began to fade. However a really good day has prepared everyone for tomorrow’s performances. Unity week one has been exciting, fun and challenging. What is really present is a friendly and supportive team of dedicated people trying to make something happen …. if you’ve not been along already do check it out. More next week when we return to Frantic workshops for the show Better, Faster, Stronger and the return of The Waiting Room.