Just a Short One: Wrasslin' by Anthony Schrag

Anthony Schrag: Wrasslin'

Imagine my surprise when going through one of my wrestling forums I find a thread on an artistic endevour. Wrestling for me is a guilty little pleasure and I have been a fan for years, enjoying the pageantry and blatantly overblown theatrics involved in the psuedo sport, however I was very surprised to read of a Performance Artist who was taking the subect of Wrestling on with his own bare hands. As talked about in the page at the link above Anthony Schrag was going to be available to be wailed upon, stretched, slammed and pinned for one round by anyone who so wished to have a go. He set up his little tent in Margate on the seafront with the aim of allowing people to 'Sweat and Smile' and to explore the level of teamwork and trust between two people who are opponents.

Whats so interesting to me about this? Well its probably the fact that this is a great example of both old school theatre/music hall and old school wrestling. During the summer seasons in many Seaside Towns there was the Wrestling Tent where people would challenge the wrestlers for a money prize. So to do it in Margate brings a real sense of irony for me. Lets hope he didn't get too hurt, after all Wrestling... its all fake isn't it?

To see more of Anthony Schrag's work please go to this website.

Xtofer

Eastenders LIVE: The Murderer of Archie Mitchell is Revealed A REVIEW

As everyone living in the UK knows Archie Mitchell, who died on Christmas Day in the Queen Vic, was a cad who deserved everything that happened to him. He finally got his comeuppence and that led to two months of speculation as to who killed him. Early indication was that it was his daughter Ronnie, whose child he hid from her and who was sexually assualted by her father as a child, who in true Lady Macbeth style went slightly mad over the past two months. Other suspects included Phil Mitchell, Ian Beale, Peggy Mitchell, Jack Branning and Bradley Branning. However as with all great Soap storylines, things are never so simple and last night things got very complicated as for the first time ever Eastenders had a live broadcast.

Now a live Television broadcast of a drama is huge news, and a huge ask nowadays. Its been nearly 50 years since live tv performance was the rule instead of the exception and so there was a huge chance that things could go drastically wrong.

As LibraryGirl and myself sat down to watch this new experience we already felt really tense. As a performer myself I can appreciate the nerves these guys must have been feeling at going live, then factor in the fact that this is the blowoff to one of the biggest storylines ever to grace the square and then the idea that there could be nearly 12 million viewers watching you and waiting for you to screw up. I would say that under that pressure I would be really feeling anxious. LibraryGirl was geared up for the story and wanted to see how good the actors were in a live setting.

As we started watching we were incredibly surprised at the seemingly breakneck speed that everything seemed to be going and then we saw our first mistake. Scott Maslen the heart throb Jack Branning had what he later described as a 'Matrix Moment' as he fluffed his lines and had that thing all actors dread where their brain goes 'where am I in the script... um whats the next line' but it sort of helped build my suspicions that Jack was the murderer. Did Maslen screw up the show? No not at all because he carried on and the acting by Charlie Clements who plays Bradley, Jake Wood as Max and Lacey Turner as Stacey kept that scene going along and the quick angle change on Stacey's face helped build the tension up.

We then moved onto other suspects as Bradley and Stacey started their doomed escape. Janine Butcher, played by Charlie Brooks, was still rushing around trying to make sure she didn't get arrested again and looking for the person who planted the missing engagement ring in her flat. Brooks was brilliant as Janine, it looked as if her parts had been pre taped in that she herself was flawless, her character came through perfectly and she didn't fluff any lines, her only problem was she tripped over her step on the way into her doorway. This was not a big deal, after all it just added to the frantic panic the character was feeling.

Other performers who fluffed up included Barbara Windsor who ran a couple of words together, a very easy thing to do when you only have a very short amount of time to shoot and its one take, she didn't react to it she just kept on going in her scene with Charlie Brooks. Samantha Womack apparently entered the corner shop in Albert Square to get paint thinner, picked it up and during her argument with Rita Simons who plays her sister Roxi left without paying for it, despite walking straight past the shop staff. There were a few snafus with the camera angles including under the arches between Stacey and Bradley. However the Sun Newspaper decided that the one they should mention in their coverage of the live show was that Jake Wood, who is brilliant as Max, was seen putting his fingers down his throat to make himself retch. Now I have to call the Sun on that one mainly due to the fact that it is barely noticeable because when it happens Jake makes the sound of retching and covers his mouth in a way that his fingers went in his mouth, he just wanted it to be more realistic and its not his fault that the camera caught him. Plus I am pretty sure not more than 2 seconds later, as people are leaving the Queen Vic there is a crew member in shot who looks round then touches what looks to be headphones, hidden under a hat of course, before we carry on with the show. Not to mention the awful pause before the stuntman leapt off of the Pub. It just seemed unfair to me for them to criticise Jake Wood.

Now onto what I thought of the episode. The show was fantastic it just was a tense laden show with some phenomenal acting. As such I am going to declare my top 5 MVPs (Most valuable Performers) from last nights live episode.

5. Steve McFadden

Phils story was he was paranoid his girlfriend, Shirley, was going to rat him out and that Ian had evidence that could be used to frame him for Archies Murder. This led to him tracking down Ian and attacking him and trashing his home looking for what he thought Ian had. McFadden much like Brooks was brilliant in that he was totally natural when it came to being angry Phil, thats what you get for really knowing your character.

4. Adam Woodyatt

Ian had gone home with Dot to talk to her about how she felt and he ended up showing her the video tape of all the then young cast members from 25 years ago. Then as mentioned above Phil came thundering in and Woodyatt is brilliant at being a snivelling coward. His work was great to watch as he and McFadden got physical but it was obviously well rehearsed and these two actors have great chemistry as enemies. You could also tell that he was having fun with it, not in a distracting way but you could just tell.

3. Charlie Brooks

Janine as I said before was rushing around trying to find out who framed her. She was just Miss One Take all night and was brilliant at her character work. This storyline has, whilst making us want to all give Janine a slap for being so evil, in many ways shone a slightly sympathetic light on the Janine Butcher character something that perhaps she needed to keep her fresh.

2. Lacey Turner

This was a really hard choice as it is very close between her and Charlie Clements as to who was better but for me she comes second. Stacey Branning was trying to escape the square with her husband Bradley thanks to the betrayal of her best friend Becca. She ran around and revealed all to Bradley who tried to help her get away but in the end she admitted all to Max... she killed Archie. A really strong performance and Lacey Turner has shown herself to be a very powerful young actress who I hope when she leaves Eastenders, eventually, gets some good dramatic roles.

1. Charlie Clements

Yes Bradley passed away last night trying to escape the Police. When he fell from the top of the Queen Vic there couldn't have been many dry eyes in the millions of homes tuned in to the show. Clements work really helped this storyline move along, his slow disintegration since his return was a truly beautiful piece of acting and his abililty to just pick that up last night and truly put the ending to his story with a great piece of performance was great. The last line he uttered was perfectly pitched and a wonderful note to go out on. The show will sadly miss the gravitas and cheekiness the the Bradley character and Charlie Clements brings to it.

So what was having a live soap like? It was excellent, the excitement of the story was amped up to 11 just because of the unpredictable nature of the performance. Would I do it again? Yes I would, but with some modifications. The main modification I would make is to have it only involve a couple of characters and perhaps 2 or 3 sets. It was wonderful seeing the crew and cast pull off this mammoth task with such great results but there was a feeling of chaos at times. Lets take June Browns solo episode, now that could have easily been shown live and as long as the storyline is strong enough viewers will still tune in. Make it a 1 or 2 room show and then do a live, it will be cheaper and easier to pull off. Also there are certain things that need to be edited for future broadcast, I know we will see clips of Bradleys death and the ending of this episode for years to come but they need to do an edit to make it flow better from the last Bradley line to his fall. I would call this a success and think its a brilliant experience for the actors and is something they should be given the chance to do. Eastenders has done a great job in the lead up to this episode and I hope the fallout is just as good.

Live Eastenders was a truly brilliant event that showed that Soap actors aren't just pretty faces for TV and that a lot of them can do the job when needed. Catch it on Catch up if you haven't seen it or look at it on iPlayer because it is well worth the watch.

Now if only more TV shows had this dangerous event like feel.

Xtofer

http://www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders

Worthing Theatres Open Day 31/01/2010: The Head Theatre Review

Worthing Theatres Open Day

Today Worthing Theatres opened the doors to its three very different venues to the general public for free and I have to say it was a great success. Unluckily being a fool I did forget to fully charge our digital camera so we only got shots of the Connaught really, but the pics we took were mostly interesting and I will post them in the blog. So here is my review of the day.

Doors were supposed to open at 12 Noon and there was a nice group of us in the Connaughts Lobby by 11:45 and plenty of staff who were happy to chat to you and answer questions. At Midday we entered the main Auditorium of the Connaught Theatre, now I haven't been in there since they showed 'This is It' last year and was very impressed with the new seats, and also the wonderful work done on the previously tatty boxes. The stage was free of set and sound equipment generally, apart from the equipment for the lecture that would later take place, so we could walk up there and look around.

The Connaughts Stage

Me looking uncomfortable on the stage!

From the stage Abby and I were allowed to explore the theatre pretty much to our hearts content, the only place that seemed off limits was the fly floor although thats probably a good thing health and safety wise. After being on the stage we moved down into the ground floors dressing rooms. On our exit we noticed a much loved sign.

 

Little things like this kept catching our eyes as we walked around the theatre, after seeing the ground floor dressing rooms we were allowed below the stage where Worthing Theatres Manager Peter Bailey was giving a little Q&A. Down there is where they store the majority of their lamps and effects machines.

Lights stored under the stage.

We also noticed a couple of trap door mechanisms and got to ask a few questions about the way shows are put into the theatre. All questions were answered and the staff were very helpful. After being under the stage it was up to the second level and into the other dressing rooms. This too was very interesting each one had obviously been modernised over time but still had their links to the past with various photos in frames of past stars and productions.

We were making our way out when we realised that we were by the staircase that must be the one reported in the last couple of incidents regarding the Connaughts infamous 'Grey Lady'.

Sadly no sight of the Grey Lady.

We took some more photos and then decided to retire to the auditorium once more where we went into one of the boxes and enjoyed one of the technicians lectures on lighting/sound and film within the Connaught and Ritz. Of course it was very interesting and well presented with the only snag being that the sound wasn't working for his demonstration. It was a very eye opening talk which revealed many things about the theatre including the fact that they are going to, hopefully, be installing 3D into the Connaught at some point in the next year and they are just choosing the format. A good sign that Connaught is trying to be more competitive as a cinema and continue its excellent service to our community. Then before we left for the Pavillion we checked out the theatres bar, I wish I had taken some photos as there are some real period features in there.

The Lecture

The Pavillion Theatre Worthing is a beautiful venue capable of seating over 900 audience members and is generally used for Stand Up Comedy, Musicals and Concerts nowadays. Originally built as a concert hall it has changed over the years and forms part of Worthings Award Winning Peir complex. I only took one photo of the Pavillion before our camera went to sleep for the day, I won't make that mistake again, it is of the classic ceiling and chandeliers of the building.

The Pavillion tour was very short, there was no chance of going under the stage but we did get to see all the backstage and dressing rooms including a very grand dressing room for the stars. Where the kids who perform during Panto at the Pavillion are kept who knows for there is remarkably little space back there.

We went up to the control room where a young technician was speaking about how the sound board and lighting system worked. The rig at the Pavillion is bigger than that at the Connaught so there was a lot more to see.

After leaving the Pavillion we headed to the Assembly Hall where we often go to watch Premier Promotions and were delighted to see the Wurlitzer Organ out on display and being played. Unfortuanately no camera meant no pics but I did look up their website and found some excellent picture.

http://www.worthing-wurlitzer.org/

In the Assembly Halls again we looked at the backstage area of dressing rooms and equipment lock ups, we also looked under the stage and then at the control room where children were getting the chance to experience a lighting board. We then sat and watched about 20 minutes of the Wurlitzer being played which was very enjoyable, I have never really thought about going to see an Organ concert but it was lovely music and I would love to see it again.

All in all a great day out seeing a lot of the inner workings of Worthing Theatres. Of course I have almost an obsession with the Connaught and so I found that one the most interesting of the three. However I must commend the entire staff at Worthing Theatres for their hospitality and help. I found them all very nice and chatty with an obvious love for their jobs, something which is really a credit to the organisation. The only negative I can give on the day, one which is not all the fault of Worthing Theatres, is the lack of attendance. We saw many older people, at one point in the Connaught we were the youngest people there! However as the day wore on we saw more children and young adults attending, I blame this on the lack of advertising. I did not see any advert on the Worthing Theatres Website, or read about it in the local main papers such as the Argus or the Herald. I heard about it through one of my partners Colleagues who also works for Worthing Theatres. The only media advert I believe was released was an article within the free weekend paper 'The Weekend Guardian' which isn't available everywhere in Worthing, this is just poor advertising which made it harder work for Worthing Theatres to get as many people through the doors as possible so they could sell tickets.

I hope today spiked ticket sales for Worthing Theatres but most of all I want to say thank you to them all for giving us nearly 100% access of some wonderful venues. I only wish I had an interview with Peter Bailey the Theatre Manager to go along with this review, however he has so far ignored my emails. I will try and still get it as there were questions I wanted to ask but didn't get the chance.

So Thank You Worthing Theatres and good luck with this coming season...

For more info check out

http://www.worthingtheatres.co.uk/

Acting: Do you really need to train?

Lets be honest, out there in the big wide world there are thousands upon millions of people all dreaming and wishing they could be on TV or on the big Silver Screen. I have lost count of the amount of young people and actors I have met who dream of being on Eastenders. Yet they do nothing about it, they do not try and start acting training or look into how to become an actor, in fact there are numerous youngsters who think that they are just going to get spotted in the street and somehow end up in a TV programme. Now granted that has happened once or twice in the past but the truth is that to be in the entertainment industry requires work and dedication and the beginnings of this really is in your training.

So what skills do you require to become an actor? Well wikianswers lists 3 skills imperative to becoming a skilled actor.

1. Control of ones emotional state.
2. The ability to project your voice.
3. The ability to memorize long passages of lines.

So lets look at these individually and I will give you some hints on how to do this without training. The control of your emotional state is a relatively important part of acting for TV and Film. Acting for film and tv has in the past hundred years changed the very definition of what acting is, what was once an artform of studying and acting out a feeling or situation has become a snapshot of reality of real emotional responses to scripted situations. This is most easily defined by what has become in many peoples minds the mecca of acting, the pinnacle of artistic legitimacy that is the Method. Championed by actors such as Brando, Hoffman and DeNiro the method evolved from the works of Russian Actor/Director Konstantin Stanislavski and developed by American Teachers like Strasberg and Adler it first permeated the mid 20th centuries Broadway stages before finally bursting through into film and TV. Using emotional recall and visualisation exercises the Method creates real emotion in scenes and really does fit the genre of TV and Film well, after all when you have to do several takes for a scene it makes it easier once you know how to use the method to just express your emotion in short bursts. Of course as well as changing the way acting works it has also really influenced programming, especially Soap Operas. Its made them more emotionally charged. Lets take Eastenders for example, which gets a lot of flack for being miserable and depressing, the recent storyline between Syed and Christian and the fact Syed was getting married would never have been so effective and compelling to watch without the brilliant level of emotion shown by the actors Marc Elliott and John Partridge. Ok so how do you learn how to control your emotions? The best bet is by getting hold of Stanislavski's book The Actor Prepares, or one of Adlers or Strasbergs many books and doing the exercises written within the pages. Then you must practice, practice and practice until it is drilled into your brain. Stanislavski would make his actors work on the true movements of the body part by part, spending up to six months on a single body part. I am not saying you should do this but you really need to know this stuff inside out as a method as a tool and the only way to do it is by practicing.

Number two, projecting your voice. The ability to project your voice without damaging it is vitally important. 99% of actors are out of work and when they are working they should be prepared for anything. If you are commited to being an actor then you cannot say that you will only do TV or Film you have to really be ready to do theatre and with the majority of theatres having between 200-500 seats then you had better know how to project your voice. Also you need to take into account that you need breathe control so you can say long lines. Shouting on stage will leave your voice damaged and you useless as an actor after the first show, if you're lucky and not hoarse by the interval, so you need to learn how the voicebox works. What is my suggestion, well there is a fantastic woman named Cicely Berry who wrote a book 'The Voice and the Actor' which covers warm up exercises, tips on how to project and a fascinating amount of information on how the diaphragm muscle can help your voice. Its one of my favourite books and I seriously reccomend you read it. Again you must study this subject and this book. Starting to see a pattern emerging?

Now wikianswers last point that of memorising lines. I cannot point you to a book on this one, nor can I explain because it is obvious why this is important. All I can say to you really are two things. If you really want to be in Eastenders then you need to learn how to read and remember lines fast. They give you approx 2 days to learn the lines they provide you with, there is barely any rehearsal time and if you can't do it then there are plenty of actors out there who can replace you. Then what do you do? You can do very simple things to expand your memory and mind, always challenge it. Keep the brain working hard, do puzzles, crosswords, play board games that require you to think. Keep it sharp and practice learning passages and it will seem simple after a while.

So what am I saying here? Yes those three things are important and yes you can find it out at home, practice it at home and perfect those techniques at home. Yet there are things that a college/university/drama school will teach you that are vitally important also. Take for example rehearsal etiquette, now I am not saying that there is a standard rehearsal procedure that everyone follows but if nationwide there are young performers being taught the same sort of procedure it will make it easier for companies to get together and work straight away. Rehearsing also slows everything down and by learning this way you will learn more efficiently and pick up more. 30 years ago an actor would be could join their local rep company and work their way up from acting asm to a higher position and improve their skills but nowadays you have to go to an educational facility. Todays training grounds are validated by the government and are monitored closely with a curriculum and much like my point on rehearsal techniques help push the subject and theory behind performing arts to make it a much better experience and give us all a better grounding in the industry. There are other aspects to the educational system that are excellent such as the lessons regarding funding and how to get your start. Before I went to University I would never have thought about how to get money for a theatre project, then i learnt about the Arts Council and it opened a whole new world to me. The list of things you will learn that will help you in your chosen career in University will continue to grow the more you think about them.

In conclusion I never went to a Drama School, I chose Northbrook College in Worthing and its fantastic theatre department at The Southern Arts Centre. Now do I regret going there to train? No, in fact it helped me immensly, I learnt things that I never thought possible about myself, about acting and about the wonderful art that is entertainment. I suppose that doesn't really matter because I got my Degree and I am happy, there are other people who just want to act and thats fine too but don't expect people to take you seriously without a degree or extensive training experience because when I look at the certificate they gave me at the end of my time there I see thousands of hours of experience in a working theatre, hundreds of characters tried and tested, historic events noted and learned from and finally I see proof that no matter what happens I am an actor in every aspect and that nobody can call me a dreamer or deluded or take it away from me because that piece of paper is proof that I have done it. Train for your own good, you will feel much better with the help of seasoned professionals and you might just learn something that will change your life. My last words for you are work hard Eastenders, The RSC, Wicked, Hollywood... they are all attainable as long as you work hard.

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