Tuesday 30 September 2014

(Theatre) Making Theatre...with your friends.

For two years I have been working on solo shows. At first having full creative control was liberating, but gradually after months of 'rehearsing' (talking to myself) all alone in my bedroom I was fanging to have someone else to say lines to. So when a drama school friend suggested working together for the upcoming Fringe Festival I didn't even let her finish her sentence before saying yes.Quickly another friend/housemate was added and our 'theatre company' was formed. Below is a chronicle of our somewhat unconventional process.

1. The Beginning
You choose a play, then you realise you can't afford the rights to the chosen play, then you decide to do something different, then you decide to do a fairytale, then some of you go to Sydney to a Benedict Cumberbatch convention, then at the convention someone's boyfriend talks about a version of 'Beauty and the Beast', then you decide to write, choreograph and perform a physical theatre piece of 'The Beauty and The Beast'.

2. Planning
You find a use for your Frankie Calendar and spend a good 5 hours planning the next 5 months. Events such as Birthday Tram Car celebrations are given equal weight as confirming flyer design.



3. Style
You go to a weird back entrance to a studio in Brunswick and run and jump around with some other girls making gurgling sounds whilst a Japanese woman plays a drum (Butoh). You go to a friends music studio and make monkey poses and look at a real human skull (and spill the teeth out of the real human skull) (Alexander Technique). You go to the zoo to observe Lion, Reptile and Buffalo movement. There are no Buffalos but you do use some circus skills to rescue a ball a small, stupid child threw on the roof of a pergola. (Animotions)



4. Research
You read (almost) every single version of 'The Beauty and The Beast' from the 1740 to now. Luckily one of you works at a library and can borrow every single fairytale book without overdue fines. You also watch every video with titles such as 'If Disney Princes were real' and 'If Disney Princesses had snapchat'.

5. Writing
You realise you can't keep researching how Baroque woman used horse hair and pometan forever so start writing a script. You heatedly discuss whether it should be 'The' Merchant or 'A' Merchant for most of the allocated writing time. (Then you give the lines to yourself and say whatever the hell you want under the guise of 'forgetting'. You also drink alot of tea and play with plastic jumping frogs.



6. Script
You have a script! Sort of. (2 months later when actually saying the words of the script you realise you have written the same phrase MANY times. 6a. You rewrite the script).

7. Rehearsal
You start rehearsing. You talk about what happened at the party on the weekend. You tell yourselves off and go back to rehearsing. Repeat infinitely.
To save on renting a space you rehearse in houses with all the furniture pushed back, backyards and parks. Your housemate cannot get into the living room and your neighbours are surprised/annoyed.




8. Design
After trying to source your own costumes you realise you need someone with real skills. At various parties and drunken outings you engage talented friends to do design elements of your show. You promise them limited money and unlimited love and esteem in return.



9. Bump In
You carry a candelabra, hula hoop, rattling silverware, stacks of large books glued together and a tray of coffee on a peak hour train like homeless bag-women. Then you leave all these in your work staff room intriguing people for many weeks. You multitask by making props whilst having an online marketing meeting whilst drinking coffee.


10. Performance
You say all the words at (mostly) the right time. You have some champagne. In the case of 66% of the cast you go home together because you live together. You watch 'Seinfeld'.

11. Future
Despite some raised tensions over syntax you are still friends.



Thanks to the lovely Jade Thomson and Jessie Phillips for being my fellow creators and putting up with my stubborn, opinionated personality. If we were strangers brought together by a casting agent I promise I would be much more polite.

For more infomation on 3 Actors visit:
www.facebook.com/threeactors.

To book tickets for our remaining shows visit:
https://www.thebutterflyclub.com/show/the-beauty-and-the-beast



Sunday 13 April 2014

(Theatre) MICF

There are 7 days left of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. So here's 7 shows I loved that you can love too!

1. Steen Raskopoulos - I'm wearing two suits because I mean business.
I was in love with this show from the title alone. Then along came a beep test related skit and I lost     my shit.

2. Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall - Success Arms
 A Canadian guy from Brunswick, super likable, super funny and super relevant to my life (if I was 30, male and lived in Brunswick).

3. Dr. Proffessor Neal Portenza - Performs his own autopsy live on stage (one night only obviously)
Whenever I see this guy I spend 50 minutes teetering on the precipice between bliss and pure terror. Really insane, really clever, I really sat next to Alex Dyson (and his date). The one lesson I learnt from this fest is I love clowning. 

Hence... 4. The Boy with Tape on his face - More Tape
This came highly recommended and with good cause, a show which genuinely appealed to everyone. Nice mix of humour, pathos and high skill at audience participation (which I greatly admire after 2 men in a row have out-played me in my show).

5. Lessons with Luis - By Myself
Some viewers have been shocked by the level of sadness in this show but I adored it. If we just laughed all the time we'd never want to listen Leonard Cohen and what a sad world that would be. Clever comedy/theatre throws you from one extreme to another which Luis and Luelin acheived with great skill.

6. Adam Richards - Gaypocalpse
One of these comedians I like is not like the others. I've had a soft spot for Adam Richards since listening to the Top 40 countdown every Sunday night in Grade 6. Even when he bombed for 20 minutes last year at the Speigal Tent I cheered him on. This show is surprisingly sincere and sophisticated. A bit too much Lesbian-hating for my liking but ah well.

7. Trygve Wakenshaw - Kraken
The first 5 minutes of this show were pure brilliance, finally I know what the identical pairs of tiny black underpants hanging up in the Tuxedo Cat dressing room are all about. Slick, talented, a little bit creepy and a great moustache.

And of course my show, Permanent Part-time Irregular Hours on 6pm nightly (no Weds) at the Tuxedo Cat.

Tuesday 18 March 2014

(Acting) Upcoming Performance

 Image: Marty King

Tickets for Permanent Part-time Irregular Hours, my new MICF cabaret are now on sale.
If reading about my Triple Threat life isn't enough, book tickets and come and see me talk and sing about it!