My show for Arches Live, Anmut, is really taking shape and coming together. I had a technical meeting this morning with Will from the arches and it has really helped me to see how it will all come together. My performer Katy and designer Kate came to see the space yesterday and it got us very excited. We will be performing in the playroom space which is great as it is enclosed so it feels very intimate. It also has a black wall at the back which will be great for the projections we plan to use in the performance.
After a very long search I also today found myself a crucial item of costume for the show. Good old Mr Ben's vintage shop in Glasgow for being the only place on Earth (or so it would seem) that stocked this mystery item...!
We are still on the lookout for a few things though:
a large sheet of glass.
a skeleton (like the ones you would see in an anatomy classroom)
a tuning fork
...so if anyone reading this has one of the above please let me know!
I've almost finished the composition and text of the piece too. It's been quite a complicated thing to work on for several reasons:
1. I've had to grapple with gender politics.
2. I've had to compose both live and pre-recorded elements so the timing has been crucial.
As I'm creating a piece where the characters are known only as "the man" and "the woman", and due to the fact the piece is exploring the differences in tonal quality between male and female voices, it's been quite tricky to make sure I don't fall into gender stereotyping. Of course, by and large, male and female voices operate in much the same way. However there are some major differences and its been quite interesting to learn about these. I hope it will be an interesting experience for the audience. I think the mood of the piece will be quite odd, creepy yet beautiful and a little bit sexual!
The arches live information can be found on the arches website. Here's a link to the page about my show:
http://www.thearches.co.uk/Greg-Sinclair-Anmut.htm
Tuesday 24 August 2010
Thursday 12 August 2010
D - I -T -T -O
Plans are coming together for my show Ditto. I have now secured two partner venues who will present performances. First up is North Edinburgh Arts Centre where the show will have its world premiere (!) on 18th January 2011. Yes! I plan to do 2 or 3 performances at NEAC before transferring to the Traverse, Edinburgh to do 3 more performances, 1 of which will be a public performance on Saturday 22nd. I'm so excited as both of these venues are really great spaces that will suit what I want to achieve from Ditto and the staff have all been very supportive.
On the creative side I've started shaping out the structure of the composition. I've been reviewing the footage that I shot in the 3 Edinburgh primary schools during the research stage and this has been a really useful reminder of what worked well (and what didn't work so well). I also think that now I know the spaces that Ditto will be in I can start to picture the visual aesthetic of the show.
At the same time I'm working on my show for Arches Live, Anmut. I've been doing a lot of research into the physiology of singing: exploring all the tiny physical and emotional factors involved in the body and the mind as it prepares to sing, as it's singing, and after it has stopped singing. I intend for the show to be an exploration of one tiny moment, spaced out over half an hour so that each tiny thing can be examined. I'm having to think quite poetically to get myself out of textbook language and into something more palatable and beautiful, whilst still having that sense of wonder that we get when you learn something new and fascinating. And of course there's all the notes to compose too....!
On the creative side I've started shaping out the structure of the composition. I've been reviewing the footage that I shot in the 3 Edinburgh primary schools during the research stage and this has been a really useful reminder of what worked well (and what didn't work so well). I also think that now I know the spaces that Ditto will be in I can start to picture the visual aesthetic of the show.
At the same time I'm working on my show for Arches Live, Anmut. I've been doing a lot of research into the physiology of singing: exploring all the tiny physical and emotional factors involved in the body and the mind as it prepares to sing, as it's singing, and after it has stopped singing. I intend for the show to be an exploration of one tiny moment, spaced out over half an hour so that each tiny thing can be examined. I'm having to think quite poetically to get myself out of textbook language and into something more palatable and beautiful, whilst still having that sense of wonder that we get when you learn something new and fascinating. And of course there's all the notes to compose too....!
Tuesday 3 August 2010
Arches Live
I'm really excited to tell you that I have been selected to take part in this year's Arches Live festival in September. My show Anmut actually began life at the Imaginate festival this year as part of the Fringe Event for Families (see post below). In that very short performance I and another performer, Katy Barry, took on the role of collectors. We told our small audiences of young folk that we liked to collect toy animals and favourite words. The piece was then a song comprised of people's favourite words. The design by Kate Temple incorporated brightly painted toy animals.
Katy and Kate will both be working with me again on this new version. It's actually not going to be too similar to the original. For starters, it's a piece for adults. However I am keen to explore some things which I will later employ in the composition and devising of my show Ditto (for 8+).
The festival runs from 16th - 26th September. Our show will be on Tuesday 21st and Wednesday 22nd at 8.15pm. Hope to see you there!
A man and a woman pace the room, unaware of each other’s existence. An intake of breath, a slight opening of the mouth, a propulsion of air; the performers know how to begin. Their sounds coalesce and they move towards their duet. But are they able to sustain their song when the confidence of their actions spills into doubts of how they arrived at this point?
Katy and Kate will both be working with me again on this new version. It's actually not going to be too similar to the original. For starters, it's a piece for adults. However I am keen to explore some things which I will later employ in the composition and devising of my show Ditto (for 8+).
The festival runs from 16th - 26th September. Our show will be on Tuesday 21st and Wednesday 22nd at 8.15pm. Hope to see you there!
A man and a woman pace the room, unaware of each other’s existence. An intake of breath, a slight opening of the mouth, a propulsion of air; the performers know how to begin. Their sounds coalesce and they move towards their duet. But are they able to sustain their song when the confidence of their actions spills into doubts of how they arrived at this point?
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