Merry Christmas Everyone

Have a very Merry Christmas everyone!

Original Scripts from FPTheatre Productions

FPTheatre Productions is proud to announce its publication of its scripts online at

http://fptheatreproductions.blogspot.com

In the coming months different scripts will be posted on the blog to view for free.

Anyone who wishes to use the scripts can enquire about the rights by contacting Xtofer at chrisandrewpilgrim@yahoo.co.uk

Misleading Theatre Posters: I'm looking at you Wyndhams Theatre

This week a story broke that the Wyndhams Theatre in London had put some qoute from a review of 'Shawshank Redemption' on the posters for the live show which had actually been about the film not the play. This of course is a massive problem as it can be seen as false advertising, no scratch that, it IS false advertising. When you factor in that the qoute taken was from a review of the stage show which just happened to point out that the film was better than the play. Ok I can understand that its not a great idea to put up an advert saying that the film is better than the live experience but blatantly using something that isn't about your product is low.

I think this is an appalling thing to do, after all spinning a review is pretty easy and you would think that a renowned theatre like the Wyndham would have a press officer who would know how to make the best of a bad situation. The fact that the local Trading Standards office has got involved shows how much of a snafu this is as the legal situation is on the side of any official office that wishes to take action.

Then again its sort of worked itself out this situation as Shawshank Redemption shuts today thanks to bad ticket sales of this very mediocre show.

Actors attacking Audience Members? Ian Hart is the latest offender! Ban him and the Theatres

"Its official Actors are RUDE, negative and general boors! The actions of a certain actor are obviously that of a madman and my suggestion is we ban theatres. After all when one finds oneself in the theatre we do not have the right to talk to our fellow patrons, our mobile phones must be turned off and we must sit still in perfect silence. Then there is the awful jokes we have to endure, the hammy over-pronunciation of every word in every Shakespeare play and the fact that everyone knows the twist to 'The Mousetrap' but isn't allowed to say. Its all rather fascist really isn't it? Its like a teacher telling you off. I say ban this 'theatre', ban the actors and ban performing arts, its a waste of public money and my bloody time.

Theatre is too dangerous and this latest maniac is living proof. What is the Government going to do about this issue that burns in the heart of our nation? Until they realise actors are more dangerous than hoodies and terrorists nothing in this country is going to improve."

This story is important as people always blow things out of proportion, an actor got angry at the perceived disrespect of this audience and got in someones face. Is that a reason to charge him with assault? I think not but who knows what a judge will say? The fact is this is happening more often, I went to the theatre 3 weeks ago to see The Mousetrap and besides us there were two people talking, behind us a man snoring and nattering everywhere it seemed. People were texting, it is disrespectful to the actors but they need to remember when Shakespeare was around they had to play over the sounds of the crowd, of the street hawkers selling their wares. So do we performers need to lighten up a bit? Or do we need to curb peoples behaviour at the theatre? Make up your own mind, me? Well I would just ignore them in the crowd and carry on acting but thats just me.

Part 4 of my documentary

http://headtheatre.mypodcast.com/2009/11/Pantomime_Part_4-260920.html

Part 3 of Pantomime Documentary

Here is part 3 of my Pantomime Documentary.

http://headtheatre.mypodcast.com/2009/11/Panto_Part_3-259733.html

Please Enjoy.

Xtofer

Controversy of Epileptic Performance Artist

I was very surprised to read today of backlash against a Performance Artist named Rita Marcalo because of her plans to induce a seizure on the stage. Now I am an epileptic and I do not find this in the least bit offensive and I disagree with Epilepsy Action, who I am a member of, for many reasons. One of the reasons I do not agree with their complaint is due to my own fascination with my condition and my exploration of it through drama. Several years ago I wrote a monologue based on the situation surrounding and experience of my first Grand Mal Seizure and have work shopped it many times to explore its viability as a one man show so condemning this woman's work would be hypocritical of me. I have found that this exploration has helped me gain a better understanding of myself and my condition, and because I have given the script to other actors to work on and there have been small workshop performances of it, I have in fact raised awareness of the effects my condition has on me and others. My second problem is that as an artist I feel that censorship is wrong, the fact is that plays are allowed to say anything they want to say due to freedom of speech and I know some organisations feel thats not a good thing. After all why would Epilepsy Action want a woman with big ideas going out there and laying our condition bare doing something that Epilepsy Action itself is known for: spreading awareness of Epilepsy. Truth is I believe EA have taken this the wrong way and its unfair to criticise a Performance Artist like this. I do however have to voice my concern for her health and that I hope she truly comes through this performance safe and if she does have a seizure, remember its not guaranteed she will have one, its not one that causes permanent damage. I wish her all the best. For more information and another brilliant blogpost on this subject please follow this upcoming link to Allan Sutherland of the Guardian's blog where he goes into more detail.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2009/nov/20/epilepsy-live-art-rita-marcalo

Xtofer

Part 2 of Pantomime Documentary

Part 2 of my Pantomime documentary in bitesized episodes. This week focuses on Commedia Dell'Arte and its influences on Pantomime.

http://headtheatre.mypodcast.com/2009/11/Panto_Part_2-259019.html

Enjoy!

Number 5: Run and Tell That from Hairspray

Now for number 5 on my top 10 list. Run and Tell That from Hairspray

Brand New Docu: Part 1 Pantomime

Part 1 of the bitesize episodes of my new Panto docu.

http://headtheatre.mypodcast.com/2009/11/Pantomime_Part1-258262.html

Enjoy!

Number 6: Back To School Grease 2

Eric Bentley's Theatre of Commitment: Is the Drama an Extinct Species?

Eric Bentley’s The Theatre of Commitment

Eric Bentley was born in 1916 in Bolton, England and it was here that he developed his love for performing and the theatre. However it was not until he moved to the USA that he began to receive plaudits for his work as a singer, translator, editor and most famously as a critic. Bentley taught at Columbia University during the 1950s as well as critiquing theatre for ‘The New Republic’, it was here that he developed his style of criticism which many call blunt. In fact Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams both tried to sue him during the 50s before dropping their cases. Bentley also worked closely under Bertolt Brecht during his time in America and is seen as one of the top experts on Brecht having written many books and translated many successful adaptations of his plays. Bentley has also written many books on the Theatre and it is one of these that I wish to review: The Theatre of Commitment.

This book is a collection of essays Bentley wrote between 1953 and 1967 and I will be reviewing each essay on whether it is still relevant today. I will also look at the issues that Bentley raises and how historically these have been faced and whether the situation has improved or got worse. The book was written with America in mind due to that being his base of operations but I believe that issues in the theatre are global and what was happening in America then may be the same today but for the UK.

The first essay was written between 1953 and 1954 and is entitled: Is the Drama an Extinct Species?

This is a question that will never die due to the fact that audience figures have dwindled in theatres over the years and less and less people are writing for the stage. Something that Bentley and I agree upon is that television and film take up the younger and newer writers because there is more money there and potential, there is a market for upcoming writing talent in Hollywood because the big wigs always want the next big thing whether it be story wise or actor wise to keep their profits high. However the backing for playwrights may not be there, Bentley talks about how subjective the idea of a ‘good’ play may be citing the example of George Bernard Shaw and how his plays written in the 1890s were cutting edge plays about social standards but it was only by the 1910s that Shaw was recognised as a genius and his plays became seen as classics. Bentley elaborates on this by saying that Shakespeare and Ibsen are lauded as geniuses of the theatre whilst people like Thomas Dekker and Henry Arthur Jones (contemporaries of Shakespeare and Ibsen) are dismissed or not even discussed due to the lack of coverage of their work. He then makes a bold claim that the same will happen with writers of the ilk of Brecht on the American stage. Bentley was of course right, Brecht in the 50s was definitely not a popular choice for theatre in America due to his communist leanings but as soon as that was not an issue any longer Brecht was lauded as one of the geniuses of 20th century theatre.

After exploring the argument that there exist good playwrights but because they do not get recognition soon enough to reap the benefits of their hard work they are forced to go into another part of the industry for their wage Bentley starts talking about another aspect of literature, authors and poets. Bentley argues that many people who wish to write to express themselves do so through the arts of fiction or poetry, he even surmises that if writers such as Hemingway and Penn Warren could devote a decade to writing for the stage they would give the playwrights of their day a run for their money. He goes on to say that there are not many opportunities for young writers to produce new work and allow themselves to make mistakes and truly learn the craft that is playwriting. This is something that has been greatly addressed in the UK in the past 15 years or so due to the death of rep theatres and the stagnation of our theatre industry. Bentley talks about how the American theatre lacks a place for the playwright to learn because on Broadway a show must be guaranteed to run for a year before it can be invested in. This is interesting to think of because in the UK that is no longer an issue, money can be thrown at a playwright and company who will not get a years run at a top theatre or even a regional tour as long as the playwrights work ticks all the boxes for funding. This is a situation that has caused some fantastic works to be written and has really helped give people opportunities but is also a bit of a double edged sword. When the rep system was active in the UK writers had a chance to have their scripts seen and tried out due to the relative cheapness of hiring a young writer attached to the theatre company, then they could develop their talent no matter what sex, background or experience they had. Nowadays it seems that you get help and backing from the arts councils or developing theatres only if you are some sort of minority, disabled, have an issues based play, want to be experimental or have an offensive subject matter. I am not saying that this is true in every example but it is a very true part of theatre today and it’s sad to think that writers such as Alan Ayckbourn would not get the backing today that he got back when he started writing if he only came along now. This is also something Bentley touches on lightly in that he says that poets and writers would not be able to get themselves on the West End stage on their own terms and that in many ways London will continue to produce renowned geniuses such as Shakespeare over an author or poets work. Of course that’s not strictly true any longer as the West End has opened up its doors to many more types of theatre and performance over the years and a good example of someone who proves Bentley wrong is the acclaimed author Mark Haddon whose first play is to be produced on the London stage in the coming months.

Bentley moves on to discuss the fact that censorship of material can have a massive effect on the production of dramatic work citing the case of the Soviet Union where there was still a great theatrical system with government initiatives for playwrights and good treatment of Soviet artists, however there was a huge amount of censorship from Stalinists and other government bodies. I honestly know very little about the censors laws in Soviet Russia but I can believe that it was detrimental, especially when you think of some of the things the censors in the Lord Chamberlains Office imposed on the theatre such as saying in a 1961 adaptation of ‘Lady Chatterlys Lover’ the male character Mellors was not allowed to be shown onstage with a bare chest, and at the time of the writing of this essay the writers John Osbourne and Keith Tynan were fighting for what would become the Theatres Act of 1968 which abolished censorship of the theatre. In the UK this isn’t obviously an issue any longer.

In conclusion much of this essay is either no longer relevant or the issues raised by it have been changed by positive moves forward within the industry. However saying that the fact is this essay still has resonance 55 years after it was first written due to the death of rep theatre and its force for good in training people to work in the theatre as actors/writers/technical/directors etc. There is still a strong level of work coming out of the UK thanks to theatres such as the Royal Court which has a fantastic new playwrights development system and due to the investment by the government in the arts council, however there is still the issue that writers are generally dismissed until their work is no longer relevant as discussed in the case of George Bernard Shaw. Of course that is changing with the invention of the internet and the fact that media and the arts are global now and what is a failure here in the UK could theoretically pack the houses in Australia or even on Broadway for example. Drama is alive and strong as well due to the fact that more4, BBC4, ITV4 and many of the main television channels within the UK are producing films which are written excellently and this I believe is why drama on the stage is more often than not a restaging of an old favourite. The real issue that Bentley raises, that of the threat of TV and the Cinema is still there, a very real and perilous situation is something we find ourselves in and its one that there is no way out of. Audiences will dwindle until Theatre becomes a niche art form unless something can stem the tide and truly push it once more as the standard bearer of drama in our society.

For more info on Bentley try this link for an audio version of his book Theatre of Commitment:

http://www.archive.org/details/TheTheatreOfCommitmentByEricBentley

Brand new News Round Up

Sorry its late guys but this past weeks News Round Up is now up on:

http://headtheatre.mypodcast.com

Enjoy!

News Round up for Week 20th Oct - 27th Oct 09

For a round up of the past weeks Theatre News you can now subscribe to my weekly podcasts at this link

http://headtheatre.mypodcast.com/

Nine the musical... what is going on?

Nine the Musical is coming out this December but there are a couple of things about this production that make me worried, very worried.

Ok so if I told you that there was a musical that would star Daniel Day Lewis as the lead coming out this year you would probably already know and still be thinking 'What on Earth?'. A renowned Method Actor he is probably the last possible choice I would make for a musical, after all he has no proven track record for singing and was only cast after he sent the production team a copy of him singing. Apparently it impressed because instead of going for the actor who won the drama desk award for his portrayal of the lead on Broadway in 2003, Antonio Banderas, they pick Lewis to replace the burnt out Javier Bardem. The mind boggles at such a casting decision, of course many would argue that Lewis is the leading film actor of our age and as such the reports that he has been using his method technique to immerse himself in the character is a great sign. However whether or not he can carry a musical lead has yet to be seen and it opens him up for a lot of criticism.

The rest of the cast is slightly curious as well, the choices of Nicole Kidman and Kate Hudson in particular are interesting to say the least. After all whilst Kidman has had a number one single in the UK and was a massive box office success in Moulin Rouge let us not kid ourselves she is a mediocre singer at best who does not really have the vocal range to pull off a musical. It is probably good then that her role within the film is not too big, Catherine Zeta-Jones pulled out of the project because the director wouldn't expand the role for her, and that she will most likely be able to show off her talent in one or two big numbers and that is all. Kate Hudson I believe has sung in only one film, the romcom 'How to lose a guy in 10 days' and I believe that was only a few bars, she is however an accomplished trained musician playing both Guitar and Piano so maybe she will be fine with her voice. I like Kate Hudson the roles she gets given in films are just archetypes and she plays them well but I hope she is given the chance to expand range a little.

Fergie from Black Eyed Peas will be in this movie portraying a prostitute, her role is a minor one but despite her obviously powerful voice as a non actor I have reservations over whether or not this is a good idea. The rest of the cast reads quite well but its nothing amazing or mind blowing. Judy Dench showing her excellence, Marion Cotillard building on her reputation from La Vie En Rose, the ever talented Penelope Cruz and legendary actress Sophia Loren. The cast in any other film for me would be a smash hit all the way but the fact that its a musical taints it a little for me.

Then we have the subject matter, the original source material for 9 the musical was a film called 8 and a Half by Fellini. A Metafilm this production portrayed a film within a film and was about a director who had creative issues and artistic blocks. Now that theme has carried over into the Musical and having read the synopsis (go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_(musical)) I think there are going to be big issues with this film. Lets be honest musicals are big business right now High School Musical smashed the door open being quickly followed by Hairspray and Mamma Mia all films with a distinctly light tone although Hairspray does try to tackle race relations. Even musicals that had come before including Chicago had a light entertaining feel yet this musical has to me a darker tone. I don't believe there will be many ensemble songs making you want to dance, it won't appeal to tweenagers, teenagers or the younger audience member. I remember having high hopes for the concept that Repo the Opera had but that was misgiven and was a huge flop even though it has gained a cult following.

Now onto my biggest worry, its been delayed. The original date of its release has been pushed back now that can mean only two things really. One that the film is awful and they are attempting to recut it to make it better or some such tactic or two, the film is going to be put up for Oscar nomination and therefore needs to be released at the end of the year. Either way it has made musical fans confused, they have been looking forward to the film and now its pushed back with no explanation.

So just what is going to happen? Well the negatives, it has an unproven (in musicals) lead actor in a film that is not really very commercial in its content. It seems a bit arty to me and whilst that may work in the theatre, when it gets to the big screen you could find yourself alienating your potential audience.

However saying all that the trailer is entertaining, 'Be Italian' the track featured in the trailer and the choreography makes it look top notch. Plus the director's previous musical Chicago stayed very true to the revival of the production so hopefully we will get that with this film and it will be a success as a filmic depiction of a stage play. I think having watched the trailer that the film will be a moderate success and will be a decent adaptation of a musical but if its put into the Oscar chase, which lets be honest is the most likely reason for the setback after all Lewis is VERY picky about what roles he does, it will become a smash hit. It would be good to see an Oscar go to a musical once more but hey lets see what happens come December.

So whats going on? I guess the answer is nobody actually knows and conjecture will get us no where, unfortuanately the people who are losing out in the end are the fans of the play who have wanted to see this film for a while and the fans who love the trailer and want to see the movie who now have to wait longer than before. I personally am now looking forward to Nine and I hope it proves my doubts wrong, but this in my opinion has the potential to be a huge flop which would be a massive shame.

First Jude... Now Sienna Miller... but its not good news

Oh deary me, things are not so great for Sienna Miller the latest Brit to hit Broadway. Performing 'After Miss Julie' a couple of theatres down from former boyfriend Jude Law and fellow Brit Actor Daniel Craig everything could have been set for a British domination of the American stage that would have proved that once again England is setting the acting standard, alas it was not to be. Whilst Johnny Lee Miller is getting good solid reviews for his part in the production the same cannot be said of Sienna. Critics have called her 'Wooly' in this country being kind to a woman who is no veteran of the stage but in America they have savaged her. Terry Teachout of the Wall Street Journal said:

"A model turned second-tier movie star, all she does is stalk around the stage striking vampy poses. She has no more business playing a classic stage role than I have posing for the cover of Vogue."

High praise indeed but not as high as the praise the New York Times gave her, critic Ben Brantley says:

"If Julie is written as clashing chords of conflicted impulses, Ms Miller plays them like a novice at a piano, plunking down each note loudly and individually."

So poor Sienna Miller, she still has till the 6th of December in the show, providing it doesn't get shut first, and I get the feeling more American criticism is on its way.

Number 7: Springtime for Hitler The Producers 2005 parts 1 and 2

Local Theatre Companies

This is my response to articles on the guardian website which can be read here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2009/oct/12/local-theatre-harrogate-oldham

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2009/oct/13/judi-dench-young-actors

It is very rare nowadays to find a town with a theatre that still produces its own work, for today Rep theatre and producing theatres have downsized drastically. This is a subject that has bugged me for a very long time, acting is a craft that needs to be learned and honed not just from reading textbooks, playing warm up games or doing a couple of shows within your training school. No you need work and the chance to explore reactions from audiences, the chance to watch more experienced actors, to talk to your peers, to study their techniques and see if they work for you. British Film had the greatest actors in the World at one point because of the fact that these young actors would be sent by the Film Studios into the theatres to learn how to interact with an audience. In Worthing where I am based the famous Rep Company, people still talk about it with reverence today, at the Connaught theatre had a deal in place with Rank Film studios and stars such as Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Diana Dors were sent to Worthing for seasoning and to gain experience. Nowadays that idea is completely foreign to most people as the consensus now is that acting for film/tv and acting for the stage should be kept seperate as they are two seperate art forms. Not true, they are all linked after all look at the most famous acting method to influence late 20th century onwards cinema 'The Method' with proponents such as Brando, Pacino, DeNiro, Day Lewis (the list goes on) comes from the work of the great Stanislavski whose work with Chekov in Russia changed everything. This is a great example of why the two are similar. So I believe the decline in local theatre companies producing work has crippled our talent producing credentials in the UK and has led to the comments recently made by Dame Judi Dench.

Another issue raised by the decline of local rep companies producing work is the is a decline in the interest of the theatre. Yes the theatres can still be, and most definately are during panto season, packed with an audience but the average age of a theatre goer in a regional venue is generally old. This of course is not an issue because as long as people support the theatre part of the culture of our local communities will thrive and prosper but the fact is getting young people into the theatre to watch drama and comedies is incredibly hard. Granted the price of tickets to the theatre is an issue which many larger venues has looked at face on and invested in their future paying audience by offering free tickets to young adults, this unluckily is not an option for the majority of recieving houses that are former rep theatre hotspots as they are smaller venues and giving up free tickets is a high gamble when you need every penny from every seat to keep your venue up and running. I believe that the death of rep and producing houses has resulted in local theatre becoming rather boring and not of much interest to the general public, for example we have had in the past year at Worthing 3 murder mysteries all of which were generally received very well by the public but these are not sell out shows. I ask you why? Why would someone go to the theatre to see a Poirot or a Agatha Christie play if you can turn on your tv on a sunday night and watch it for free? Of course that argument can be torn apart by the fact that the Mousetrap in London has been onstage for 50+ years but to me that is popular because the ending is a secret and there has never been a film or tv version of the story. Now I am not advocating that all they show in local theatres is new works and young issue based plays because you need a mixed audience but I believe there is a lot more these small venues can do to get the younger person through the doors. The decline of theatre as a regular event in the town and being an affordable past time with recognisable local stars has led to people being surprised that a good show is on at the local theatre and the idea of going to the theatre is almost alien to many. We need as an industry to analyse why and try to turn this around. Regular work with local artists is something that could boost attendance and special deals which would benefit the prospective theatre attender.

Of course the death of rep has led to more small 'alternative' theatres opening up and creating new works because there needs to be somewhere to develop new work. This has led to hybrid shows and programs providing and making physical theatre, drama, comedy, dance and classics accessible to audiences. This to me is the greatest single achievement of our industry since the death of rep, it kind of still exists through the energy and passion of these passionate companies and theatres.

So today rep is pretty much dead, will it ever come back permenantly? No like the dodo its extinct, something that has been outgrown. Would it still work today? Sure to an extent after all the Music Hall Theatre in London still survives providing its niche product to willing customers. Yet we shouldn't be looking back and lamenting all the time, we should (and this includes me) stop thinking about how great the industry was then for the actors and the venues and the public and take the great ideas and techniques and make a new hybrid that promotes growth of the artform and popularity of it. The future of the theatre is what we wish to make of it and now at the end of the first decade of our new century we need to make a choice, to keep hold of our old ways that have stagnated and seen the theatres in numerous towns and cities shut down or to change and strive towards making the british film and theatre industry the powerhouse it once was all over again.

Number 8: Reviewing the Situation Oliver! 1968

Jude Law: Hamlet

I understand that any reader of my blog, or listener of the blogs I have put on youtube knows that I have a certain lack of respect for film stars who just decide to do theatre as they need some 'credibility' or as something to take up their time between blockbuster films. I despise the idea that actors who are Hollywood headliners will just come to the West End because of the payday and knowledge that screaming fans will pack the theatres to see them but sometimes there are some really good performances to see. Ewan McGregor as Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls jumps to mind really quickly, it was what I would call a serviceable performance. Ewan was fine on the stage and I didn't feel ripped off for paying for the top end tickets because I felt entertained and he was good, but I always said I would never ever see Ewan's friend Jude Law in a play.

Jude Law has flirted with the stage on and off over the years due to his failing film career it would seem, however something happened this week that changed that part of my opinion. I was on the BBC website looking at the arts section and it listed numerous reviews of Law's portrayal of Hamlet. Now there is criticism within them for Law's portrayal but there is a higher percentage of praise for his performance and its this which changed my mind on the situation. I thought back to where I had last read about Jude Law, it was a red top tabloid which revealed his newest child with a mistress or some stupid story or other about his philandering. This film star, this actor gets more press for his bedroom habits than his actual work... its sad but perhaps its a typical example of what sells papers. After all nobody wants to hear 'Jude Law worked really hard to put on an interesting performance of Hamlet, its slightly flawed but highly powerful' they want to hear 'Jude Law is a bed hopping idiot who has no film career' or another 'Jude Law screwed the nanny' story. It got me really thinking, it made me reflect on how wrong I can be about people and about artists, as a young actor/director trying to get my own break in this industry should I not respect Jude Law for taking to the stage? After all him being in a show will grant it more visibility and perhaps encourage the fans who go for him to try other theatrical events for a night out. And as for the press coverage of his love affairs let us remember that good old Larry Olivier was always the source of rumour and gossip whether it be him having an affair with Danny Kaye or cheating on his wife.

In conclusion good for Jude Law for showing respect to his work by giving his all and I really hope that it leads to him doing more stage work and really working hard to get back the respect his private life has lost him. Also I wish I had gone to see him in Hamlet now after seeing the Donmar Warehouse's staging of Ivanov.

So sorry Jude, good luck with your Broadway run and I hope I get the chance to see you on the West End one day.

Musical Sequence Number 09: All in the cause of Economy from Half a Sixpence 1967

Musical Sequence Number 10: Off the Record from 'Yankee Doodle Dandy' 1942

Musical Number 10:

It's been a long summer and what do I do now?

For those of you who were following this blog over the past couple of months I can only apologise for the lack of information or updates throughout August. During August I was involved in producing and performing my own piece of street theatre. We performed in Worthing to great success and interest from the local shoppers. I found the whole experience fun and rewarding in many ways and FP Theatre Productions in conjunction with The Idlers was given a big push into the minds of local people which is always good. There is however a part of me that feels deflated now the show is over and we have no other bookings.

I don't believe it has anything to do with not having a project as I do have a new project to look at and ideas I want to develop, I believe it is because I have not reached a 10th of my potential and I feel like I have wasted myself over the past 2 years since graduating from University. During my time at University I was lucky enough to have several chances to work with some phenomenal talents, one of whom trusted the University enough to let me direct in his theatre. That man is Alistair O'Loughlin one of the founders of Prodigal Theatre the foremost creators of new theatre in the country and their developmental resources for companies is amazing. Alistair and I first met when I was 17 and instantly made a huge impact on my life as a performer by telling me that everything I believed about myself being a good actor was rubbish, he talked about how I had probably had a talent for acting as a child and had been doing it for years but that, as he put it, having the flower of talent is not enough as you have to make sure you have the tools for the craft of acting. From that day I changed my attitude and went forward gung ho and sucking in as much information on how to create effective characters, I listened to his style, to his teachings and worked hard to improve myself. I excelled under his tutelage and my grades for the units he taught me were the highest i had on my Diploma. Two years later I got the chance to direct at his theatre and he gave me the only piece of advice he could give me (he was unavailable for the majority of the rehearsal and development period) which was to look up Metatheatre. I looked but found little i understood, overwhelmed and under prepared for the situation of running a group of actors in creating a piece of theatre i completely mucked up. It is more than fair to say I lost control of the situation and that version of 'Don Juan Returns from the War' at the Nightengale Theatre Brighton was not good and definately not the right calibre of work he expected. I didn't speak to Alistair again but the things he has said and his continued work has stayed with me and for the valuable lesson he taught me all those years ago I feel guilty at letting his theatres reputation down. Yet now I believe his impact on me has continued by motivating me to understand Metatheatre, to look more at alternative types of theatre such as mediatheatre and older art forms such as Bauhaus performance art and it drives me to create my own work. I see what he has done and I want to do it. Too long I have been part time and now I am going to go full time with this. I need success in the theatre field, I crave it. I want legitimacy as an artist and I have something to say, at the moment i do not know what it is but I can feel it inside. Nobody knows me as well as I know myself and nobody understands my passion. University gave me everything i needed to express myself now I need money and backing and venues, rehearsal spaces etc to make it possible to show my passion to the world.

I know this post has seemed rambly but this is an issue i feel so passionate about I cannot help myself. I need to still train, I know barely anything even people like Alistair are still learning new things about their art and themselves, its an ongoing process which I halted for a year and now I have to continue and work at it harder than ever before. So my training restarts today with the work of Keith Johnstone. If you ever have the chance to read his work please do its fascinating.

For the next post I will be starting my first list of my top ten musical sequences.

See you soon.

Chris

A-Z of Practitioners Stella Adler

Method Acting

This weeks A-Z of Practitioners is still at A with Stella Adler and as she is a method acting practitioner I have written an article discussing the evolution of the Strasberg and Adler 'Method'

Christian Bale is a great actor sure but when pictures of him turn up looking like a holocaust victim because he is working under ‘The Method’ it really makes me question what he is thinking. The same really goes for Daniel Day Lewis in many ways as he spends all day as his characters according to reports on his work. The truth is what are these men thinking? What makes this method so desirable? I have to say that its probably its proven ability to shake up the movie industry and that classic and legendary performances in the past 50 years have 90% been performed by Method actors. However the most interesting thing about the legendary method is that its definition as the method for acting was referred to as such by, the father of modern acting, Konstantin Stanislavski who created it and then eventually abandoned the belief. That is right, the man who created the method ultimately said that it didn’t work and that it was false, that the methods search for truth was ultimately just another lie. So what happened?

In the 1925 the Russian actor Richard Boleslavsky, who had trained under Stanislavski, opened the American Laboratory Theatre with several students including a young man named Lee Strasberg. Whilst Strasberg was learning at the American Lab about Stanislavski’s ‘system’ a young actress named Stella Adler, who had watched the Moscow Art Theatre’s successful 1922-1923 US tour was working towards joining the American Lab too. Adler would eventually meet Strasberg and together with several other students they broke away to form their own ‘Group Theatre’. The Group Theatre would during the 1930s collaboratively work on their ideas of the perfect most realistic acting technique based on the Stanislavski System. In 1934 Adler left the Group Theatre to study in Paris for five weeks with Stanislavski and it is here that she learned that he had turned his back on his previous beliefs that emotional memory was vital for effective truth on the stage. It was here that the split in the camps of method started and soon it became a battle of beliefs and this muddied the waters on what the method really was.

Strasbergs Method
Lee Strasberg took the Stanislavski system and manipulated it and changed it into what he believed was the Method of acting. Strasberg took the writings of Stanislavski and studied them intensively and experimented with them frequently trying to recreate emotion and artistic truth on the stage. This proved to be very hard and Strasberg found that using emotional memory didn’t come across as real, just remembering how you felt at the time didn’t help as the emotion seemed faded. However when Strasberg expanded the idea so that the performer would focus on the surroundings of the emotion, for example how did the room smell, how warm was it? What could you taste? This would make the emotion more real as the actor takes a very real situation they have experienced and using it creates a realistic emotion. This is what is known now most commonly as the Method ie Emotional Recall.

Adlers Method
Adler followed the same beliefs as Strasberg for years before being tutored by Stanislavski personally whereupon she changed gears. Listening to Stanislavski turn his back on emotional recall and instead turn to imagination as the key source and objective fulfilment as the secondary source Adler changed her ways. Adler used Stanislavskian methods such as the super objective mixed with intensive study of the text to help the actor immerse themselves in the world of the piece. Adlers belief was that if you lost yourself within the imaginary world you had created you could create real emotion that the intended emotions written by the playwright would come through.

Of course these both get mixed up and in all honesty nobody can really define ‘The Method’ anymore. When Strasberg and Adler passed away they both took the definitive ideas of their ‘Method’ with them. So you get people like Christian Bale losing weight drastically in an attempt to experience the feeling of being a drug addict and Daniel Day Lewis not wanting to break the illusion and therefore spend his days at work staying in character on set. Perhaps though this shows that more and more performers today are adapting what they understand the method to be for their own benefit and creating a new acting style.

Practitioners A-Z: A

Part 1 of my series on Practitioners: Antonin Artuad

Antonin Artuad
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Theatre from my Head's FIRST POST

Hi there my name is Chris Squire and I am an actor. Yes I am sure you have heard it all before, read it all before and its quite boring, after all who the heck isn't trying to get into the movies?

Anyways welcome to my blog, thankyou for stumbling upon it and glancing at my offerings :)

In this blog I will be putting up podcasts on situations within film and the theatre, rehearsal notes tidbits and advice, some great workshops you can do at home to help you get the best out of performing and also some of my favourite speeches from plays, performed by myself and fellow young actors.

I hope you all enjoy what I share with the world.

Here is my first post: Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing