During my last journal I somehow managed to deviate a great deal from the topic I was trying to communicate. No matter. It gives me an opportunity to talk about it now. I wanted to specifically address the different abstract performances we did in my theatre class. So this one is pretty much for you Kevin. The rest of you readers, I suggest you go play some FLASH games, or do a silly online quiz, because I am essentially just going to talk about some wacky class projects. Feel free to read on if you desire, I will describe them in minor detail.
So first project. From the madams Julie, Jamie and Greg. Heh, take that Greg, I called you a madam! Ahem... This delightful piece was a reading of an interesting poem about a moth to a flame. Essentially, the poem was seemingly about how it is better to fly head long into a flame, and live in one glorious burning moment the it is to simply fly about doing dick-all. Makes sense, kinda song like a rock song as one of our guests pointed out, but it was still fun. They presented the poem in a dimly lit room, with little to no light, and then turned various lamps off and on to reveal themselves. Well, this is was the first presentation anyway, the second performance of this show was drastically altered. The show was simply just to difficult to see under the lighting conditions, so the whole people in black lights theme kinda went out the window. However, despite this fact, I like the first presentation a lot more. Sorry Kevin. While I couldn't see them, I at least found it more interesting, and attention grabbing, and different. It was highly entertaining then anything else, and I do like to be entertained. I think the show could have been changed in such a way that we could see the actors better, but the presentation would remain pretty much the same. Technical problems? Maybe all they needed was a bigger black light, or to find a way to hang some interesting lights. I don't know. However, what I do know, is that the first performance put something into me, something that I found eerier yet pleasant. The second performance however, just felt like a few strange elements being tossed together. I felt the dialogue of the poem a lot more before, and I liked the poem. The second presentation seemed to loose a lot of the meaning for me, but then again, maybe putting me in a state of no longer seeing a meaning is a feat all in itself. My main comment is simply that I liked the first show better. I understand, and also believe, that you should be able to see actors in a play, or else we aren't really doing a play anymore, but I also think that could have been resolved differently. Okay, next show.
The dancing theatrics of Corey, Nicole and Liz. Twas lovely, lovely indeed, and I liked the changes they made, some more then other however. This show was a poem about, well, I am not entirely sure what it was about. A girl I think, a girl who was a bit off. Interesting, I am only realizing know that I didn't really listen to that poem. I don't believe that is because I wasn't paying attention, but rather because I was watching the movement. This piece contained a few dance elements, and lots of pretty-flowy fabrics. The first presentation I found to be very visually appealing, like a ballet. I am sure this is in no small part due to the graceful Corey. The second however I found much more profound, and emotionally captivating. It stirred up some tingling of the spine in my neck of the woods. Yet, I still don't recall the poem very well. I defiantly found this performance pretty in the same way you find a classical dance number pretty. Even when there was no dance, the constant movement of the piece made it still seem like one conjoined dance. If I recall, there was little stillness, which was much unlike many of the other pieces. Anyway, I must move on, because I have several shows to quickly speak about and I don't want to have to murder a million trees when I finally print this out for class.
Next up is my piece, and I don't really have anything to say about my own work, I more want to talk about the work of other. Judging people makes me feel like a big man (okay, that's a big lie). So, after my piece was the work of Tyler, Guy and Mallorie. This is another show which took a huge leap, but I leap I liked. This group read poems written by the author of Winnie the Poo, whos name eludes me at this point. I thought this presentation probably had the most work put into it. Not only because of the great amount of dialogue, but because it went to so many different places. The first performance essentially told a story of delightful child hood while projecting a series of photos on the wall depicting poor impoverished families with kids. It was a nice contrast. I wasn't sure what they were trying to say, nor did I really care, but what I took from it was that even when you are a poor child, you are a happy child. Or maybe that, all child hoods are the same, regardless of the way you live. Something like that. The second presentation took a whole new world into it, filled with psycho killer clowns and loads of violence. What the fuck was that? I have no idea what they were trying to say at this point. Maybe they weren't trying to say anything. Maybe they just wanted some creepy-looking clowns. I guess the reason I liked the second performance what because while the other show made good use of contrast through the projections, this presentation spat in your face then gave you a hug. It was a titillating head trip. Didn't know what it meant, but it was a shocking enough image to create a certain kind of fear and discomfort inside me. Good show people, good show. It felt to me like an abstract painting, filled with splatters of red paint, which somehow brings thoughts of gore and violence to my mind. It was fun, in a horror movie kind of fashion.
So lastly we come to the zombie-jiu-jitsu rhythmic rub-down of Christine, Jay, Jeremy and Artem. This show changed very little between the first and second performance. Good for you people. You liked your show, saw no problems with it, and refused to change anything dramatically. I commend for not feeling like they needed to do something new just to please us, even though they probably knew everyone was making big changes. This show was all in the words. Yet, the words were meaningless. The movement of the piece was all well and good, and leant to the performance and narration of the story, but I still paid more attention to the sound of their voices then what they were doing. This show was essentially composed of some people chanting a poem which was made of words which had no connection to each other, and just sounded interesting when placed back to back. It felt musical to me. Even their movement was musical. The stepping of their feet felt like it was present to give a drumming rhythm to their song. The performance was shocking and mind shaking. Like a machine gun blasting off rounds 6 inches from your ear. It was exciting in the same way a classical instrumental orchestra can create emotion inside of you with only music and no words. The show did have an apparent plot, but I found myself more interested in listening to the group then watching them. I could been audience to this show with my eyes closed, and still thought it amazing.
So yes, that is my very simple review and opinion of the performances. I was thinking about getting into a deeper debate within myself as to if I thought these shows worked well, and exactly what kind of work they produced, but I enjoyed just chattering about them more. So that is what I got, and that is what you get. Nothing more nothing less. It's my journal and I can do what I want with it! Mwa ha ha!
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So first project. From the madams Julie, Jamie and Greg. Heh, take that Greg, I called you a madam! Ahem... This delightful piece was a reading of an interesting poem about a moth to a flame. Essentially, the poem was seemingly about how it is better to fly head long into a flame, and live in one glorious burning moment the it is to simply fly about doing dick-all. Makes sense, kinda song like a rock song as one of our guests pointed out, but it was still fun. They presented the poem in a dimly lit room, with little to no light, and then turned various lamps off and on to reveal themselves. Well, this is was the first presentation anyway, the second performance of this show was drastically altered. The show was simply just to difficult to see under the lighting conditions, so the whole people in black lights theme kinda went out the window. However, despite this fact, I like the first presentation a lot more. Sorry Kevin. While I couldn't see them, I at least found it more interesting, and attention grabbing, and different. It was highly entertaining then anything else, and I do like to be entertained. I think the show could have been changed in such a way that we could see the actors better, but the presentation would remain pretty much the same. Technical problems? Maybe all they needed was a bigger black light, or to find a way to hang some interesting lights. I don't know. However, what I do know, is that the first performance put something into me, something that I found eerier yet pleasant. The second performance however, just felt like a few strange elements being tossed together. I felt the dialogue of the poem a lot more before, and I liked the poem. The second presentation seemed to loose a lot of the meaning for me, but then again, maybe putting me in a state of no longer seeing a meaning is a feat all in itself. My main comment is simply that I liked the first show better. I understand, and also believe, that you should be able to see actors in a play, or else we aren't really doing a play anymore, but I also think that could have been resolved differently. Okay, next show.
The dancing theatrics of Corey, Nicole and Liz. Twas lovely, lovely indeed, and I liked the changes they made, some more then other however. This show was a poem about, well, I am not entirely sure what it was about. A girl I think, a girl who was a bit off. Interesting, I am only realizing know that I didn't really listen to that poem. I don't believe that is because I wasn't paying attention, but rather because I was watching the movement. This piece contained a few dance elements, and lots of pretty-flowy fabrics. The first presentation I found to be very visually appealing, like a ballet. I am sure this is in no small part due to the graceful Corey. The second however I found much more profound, and emotionally captivating. It stirred up some tingling of the spine in my neck of the woods. Yet, I still don't recall the poem very well. I defiantly found this performance pretty in the same way you find a classical dance number pretty. Even when there was no dance, the constant movement of the piece made it still seem like one conjoined dance. If I recall, there was little stillness, which was much unlike many of the other pieces. Anyway, I must move on, because I have several shows to quickly speak about and I don't want to have to murder a million trees when I finally print this out for class.
Next up is my piece, and I don't really have anything to say about my own work, I more want to talk about the work of other. Judging people makes me feel like a big man (okay, that's a big lie). So, after my piece was the work of Tyler, Guy and Mallorie. This is another show which took a huge leap, but I leap I liked. This group read poems written by the author of Winnie the Poo, whos name eludes me at this point. I thought this presentation probably had the most work put into it. Not only because of the great amount of dialogue, but because it went to so many different places. The first performance essentially told a story of delightful child hood while projecting a series of photos on the wall depicting poor impoverished families with kids. It was a nice contrast. I wasn't sure what they were trying to say, nor did I really care, but what I took from it was that even when you are a poor child, you are a happy child. Or maybe that, all child hoods are the same, regardless of the way you live. Something like that. The second presentation took a whole new world into it, filled with psycho killer clowns and loads of violence. What the fuck was that? I have no idea what they were trying to say at this point. Maybe they weren't trying to say anything. Maybe they just wanted some creepy-looking clowns. I guess the reason I liked the second performance what because while the other show made good use of contrast through the projections, this presentation spat in your face then gave you a hug. It was a titillating head trip. Didn't know what it meant, but it was a shocking enough image to create a certain kind of fear and discomfort inside me. Good show people, good show. It felt to me like an abstract painting, filled with splatters of red paint, which somehow brings thoughts of gore and violence to my mind. It was fun, in a horror movie kind of fashion.
So lastly we come to the zombie-jiu-jitsu rhythmic rub-down of Christine, Jay, Jeremy and Artem. This show changed very little between the first and second performance. Good for you people. You liked your show, saw no problems with it, and refused to change anything dramatically. I commend for not feeling like they needed to do something new just to please us, even though they probably knew everyone was making big changes. This show was all in the words. Yet, the words were meaningless. The movement of the piece was all well and good, and leant to the performance and narration of the story, but I still paid more attention to the sound of their voices then what they were doing. This show was essentially composed of some people chanting a poem which was made of words which had no connection to each other, and just sounded interesting when placed back to back. It felt musical to me. Even their movement was musical. The stepping of their feet felt like it was present to give a drumming rhythm to their song. The performance was shocking and mind shaking. Like a machine gun blasting off rounds 6 inches from your ear. It was exciting in the same way a classical instrumental orchestra can create emotion inside of you with only music and no words. The show did have an apparent plot, but I found myself more interested in listening to the group then watching them. I could been audience to this show with my eyes closed, and still thought it amazing.
So yes, that is my very simple review and opinion of the performances. I was thinking about getting into a deeper debate within myself as to if I thought these shows worked well, and exactly what kind of work they produced, but I enjoyed just chattering about them more. So that is what I got, and that is what you get. Nothing more nothing less. It's my journal and I can do what I want with it! Mwa ha ha!
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Join the SG Canada east group, you clod! Girls abound! Enjoy something about Ottawa whilst you can!